Seven Days
by mesmerizedbyceruleaneyes
Summary: Niou, in a bid to distract himself from his one-sided crush on Yagyuu, asked Marui to date him for a week. Marui reluctantly agreed. The agreement was that it would only be for seven days. What could possibly happen in seven days? HaruMaru.  Edit
1. Monday

**Seven Days**

**Monday**

_Morning__: Marui_

"Yo."

Marui didn't have eyes at the back of his head, no matter how awesome he constantly claimed he was, so he naturally had to turn to see who was talking to him from behind.

"Oh. Niou. Hey." The redhead yawned widely, not bothering to be polite. It was six in the morning. He had every right to be yawning.

The trickster fell into step beside Marui. "Gum?"

"Doesn't seem to work till six-thirty," replied Marui, yawning again.

"Ah." Niou nodded. "No wonder."

"Yeah, you're unnaturally early today," noted the redhead. "I'm normally awake by the time you turn up."

"Mm." Niou hooked his hands in his pockets. "Yeah. Just wanted to… ask you something."

"Eh?" Even in his not-quite-awake state, Marui could tell this was not normal. He and Niou weren't all that close. They were teammates, sure, and they could complain to each other about homework and teachers and Sanada's most recent torture method disguised as training without much problem. That did not mean that they were BFFs who shared their deepest darkest secrets and talked on the phone late into the night, every night. Marui was understandably surprised to have Niou coming to him for what looked like life counseling. That was the kind of face the trickster was wearing – furrowed brows, troubled eyes, mouth reluctantly framing the words of the request.

"Erm… Niou?" Marui ventured cautiously. This was dangerous ground. He was handling an unknown entity. It had to be handled carefully, or it might just blow his head off. "You sure you got the right person? You look serious, and if it's something serious, you'd be talking to Yagyuu, not me. Or else you're not Niou – you're some shape-shifting alien who wants to get close enough to eat me and you're masquerading as one of my teammates. What did you do with Niou?"

Niou laughed. It sounded as though it had popped out against his will – sudden, but somehow still natural, and cut off as suddenly as it began. The redhead became even more suspicious. Niou was the kind who could pull off movie-style evil laughter. He never cut off his own laughter; he laughed until people told him to shut up, then continued laughing just to piss those people off. "Hey, I'm serious. You can't be Niou. You are so un-Niou-like I think I ought to file a report to whatever alien agency sent you and tell them that you need more training before you can go around impersonating people."

"That bad?" The silver-haired boy smiled, but for some reason it didn't look particularly happy.

"Ah! You admit you're an alien! Oh my shit, I've caught an alien!" Marui grabbed his teammate by the shoulders and started shaking him. "Come on, show your true self!"

"Hey, hey, stop! I'm not an alien!" Niou was laughing again, but this time he didn't try to stop himself. "Marui, you ass! Stop it!"

The redhead stopped, but didn't let go of Niou's shoulders just on the off chance he really was an alien. "So… what's up? Apart from the sky?"

"Well, right now we've got a tree up there too," replied the trickster, grinning.

Marui let go of Niou. "Right, you're not an alien. Aliens don't make such lame comebacks. They'd have been trained to make good jokes, since alien civilization is so much more advanced than ours."

"So if there really was a shape-shifter who claims to be one of us, we'd have to prove who's the real one by checking who makes the lamer comeback to a lame joke?" inquired Niou, straightening his clothes.

"Yeah, something like that," agreed the redhead, straight-faced.

Niou shook his head as they started walking again, in disbelief or in amusement, it was impossible to tell. "Anyway…"

"Mmhmm?" Marui prompted when the trickster didn't continue immediately.

"… is it true that you have a new girlfriend every week?" asked Niou, not quite meeting Marui's eyes.

The redhead blinked in surprise. To think Niou got so keyed up on something so… well, perhaps not insignificant, but certainly not as earth-shattering as he'd expected. In his mind's eye, Niou's image developed a series of tiny cracks. "Erm… yeah, but I thought that was old news already."

A ghost of his trademark grin flitted across the trickster's face. "I just wanted to confirm."

"Right. Is that all?" Marui asked. He was sure it wasn't. Whatever was bothering Niou, it was definitely something big, to shake to pieces the normally unshakeable Niou.

The trickster still didn't look up. "Well, no. Why don't they hate you, if you always dump them after a week?"

Marui tossed his head. "Because I'm so awesome. If they stuck around me for more than seven days, they would die of my awesomeness." Sea-green eyes that were not at all amused met his, and he sighed. "Okay, okay. Honestly? I have no idea. But I do my best to be a good boyfriend. I mean, you never know, I might just fall in love with one of them. Better to be safe than sorry."

"Then why only one week?" persisted Niou.

"Because it's a nice round length of time," replied the redhead, grinning. More seriously, he added, "Well, that's only part of it. I'm thinking, a week's long enough to find out if I really like her. Besides, we're only young once. I want to get to know more people, all kinds of different people. If not, how would I know what kind of person I like? I don't believe in those 'first love, forever love' kind of ideals. For all you know, there might be someone better out there, someone you never met because you were too busy with the first person. So I don't choose who I go out with. Whoever asks me first that week, I will date. If I'm not interested after the first week, I move on. That's all there is to it."

"That's…" The silver-haired trickster paused, searching for words.

"Harsh?" supplied Marui. "Maybe. But I think it works. I can't imagine what it would be like if I had to stick with the first girl I dated until now. She was a real terror – kept taking photos of us together just so she could show off to her jealous friends."

"No," interrupted Niou. "I was going to say, that's kind of interesting. That system of yours."

Again, Marui found himself stumped. "Eh? For real?"

Niou nodded. "Yeah. Maybe I should try it out too. Or maybe…" He trailed off, looking thoughtful.

They were within sight of the tennis courts. The usual crowd of girls was starting to form, too. Marui couldn't understand them at all – who in their right minds would show up at school three hours early just to cheer the tennis team? Then again, there was no proof that fangirls were sane in the first place. And the tennis team was awesome. It deserved devoted fans, which those girls definitely were.

Unfortunately, because of this devotion, most of his confessions came from these very fangirls. He was honestly getting tired of accepting the first confession of the day – after a while, all of these girls seemed the same. Staring star-struck at him, unable to hold a decent conversation, doing everything short of raping him (happily he had managed to avoid such a situation so far, thanks to the muscles he had built from tennis, but there was always the possibility), all in the name of their _love_ for their idol. He had been as nice – as boyfriend-like – to them as he could possibly be, but it was getting very difficult to keep up the façade when sometimes he longed to slap them across the face and to hell with gentlemanliness.

"Hey Marui. You accept the first confession you get, no matter who it's from?" Niou's voice cut through the redhead's miserable reflections.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I do," he confirmed. "No matter who it is. But I'm starting to –"

"What if it's me?" interrupted the trickster.

Marui froze. That couldn't be right. His ears must have been mistaken. He turned, slowly, to face his companion. "… Say what?"

"Go out with me," said Niou, staring straight into Marui's shocked eyes.

"W-wait, you're having me on, right? This isn't funny, Niou. Stop the joke. I know you don't actually want to date me. I mean, like, we're… guys? Well, I guess that's kind of accepted nowadays, but… Niou? You're planning to go have a good laugh later on, right? You're joking, right? Tell me you're joking," pleaded the redhead. He wasn't so much afraid of the fact that it was a guy confessing to him, but more of the fact that it was _Niou_. Things involving Niou tended to be dangerous. Dating Niou was surely included in 'things involving Niou'. And the current very un-Niou-like Niou was making him even more wary.

'I'm not joking," replied the silver-haired boy. "Marui, go out with me. Please."

Marui's eyes widened. _Please._ Niou had said please. Niou was begging. The look in those aqua eyes, the tone of his voice, the words… Niou was begging him. Why, he had no idea, but no matter how much his common sense screamed that this was dangerous and he had to get out of this situation _this very second_, there was no way he could turn his back on Niou now.

He had never seen Niou so desperate… but desperate for what? He was pretty sure Niou didn't have some hidden, burning crush on him. That was just too weird. If Niou was crushing on anyone, it was Yagyuu… or wait. Maybe…?

"Niou –" Before Marui could ask further, the trickster covered his mouth with a hand. "Hey!" he protested, his voice muffled by the hand.

"You said you'd go out with the first person who asked you." Niou's eyes burned into Marui's. "Well, I'm asking you right now. Go out with me, Marui Bunta."

There really wasn't anything else he could do but nod. _What the hell am I letting myself in for?_ He wondered, as the trickster took away his hand and headed for the tennis courts as though nothing was wrong. _At least it's only for a week,_ thought the redhead as he followed.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Morning__: Niou_

_Why the hell did I do that?_ Niou berated himself as he strode through the screaming crowd of girls outside the tennis courts. He wasn't even all that close to Marui. The redhead was always just another teammate. Sure, their team was all close and bonded and all, but Niou wasn't much of a group person. He was the so-called lone wolf. In less romantic terms, he didn't want people around him all the time. Alone time was good for the health. Really, it was.

Then Yagyuu had come into the picture.

Yup, the picture that used to consist of only Niou now had a new member. A person with purple hair and reflective spectacles. A person wearing clothes that looked as though they had been ironed not twenty seconds ago. A person holding a tennis racket in a golf pose.

In a word, Yagyuu.

Niou used to be a singles player. He had sucked at doubles. Really sucked. It wasn't because he was a lousy player – it was because he rubbed his partners off the wrong way. Then along came Yagyuu Hiroshi, and Niou was suddenly an amazing doubles player. He got along with Yagyuu like a house on fire.

The first time he set eyes on Yagyuu, Niou had been pissed off at the golfer's very existence. Yagyuu was too perfect – perfect grades, perfect posture, perfect behavior. Not at all like Niou. Yagyuu was Niou's image in a warped mirror that showed the opposite rather than the reflected replica. That he hated Yagyuu was natural – all beings resist the idea of themselves in reverse. A reference could possibly be made to how devils write the Lord's Prayer backwards and place it upside down to ward off angels.

Yet it is equally true that opposites attract. Inexplicably, inexorably, people seek in others what they lack in themselves, trying to find the other half of that elusive whole. In the same way, Niou hated and at the same time was fascinated by Yagyuu. On a comment by Yanagi that the team needed another sane person in order to function properly, Niou had seized the chance to recruit the golfer.

He had volunteered to teach Yagyuu, claiming that as the recruiter, training the recruit was _his_ responsibility. Yukimura had given him an odd, calculating look, but nodded his approval in the end. The rest, as they say, was history – Yagyuu learned impossibly fast, soon becoming good enough to pound Niou into the dust, and was immediately accepted as a member of the team. Yukimura suggested they try playing doubles together, and from then on they were inseparable.

That had been three years ago, though.

Now…

"_I love you, Hiroshi-kun. Do you love me too?"_

"_Yes. Yes, I love you__, Miki-chan."_

They were even silhouetted against the setting sun, like some cheesy tear-jerker drama or movie couple. Niou, as the indirectly rejected lover, should have clutched at his chest and howled at the moon, just visible on the other horizon.

What actually happened was that Niou had been stunned. For one, he hadn't realized his crush on his doubles partner was so bad he would really feel something inside break on viewing this scene. For another, he hadn't even realized he was crushing on his doubles partner. He'd thought it was friendship, best-friend-ship, partnership; whatever it was, it was completely fraternal and platonic. No weird wet dreams involving Yagyuu, no sudden desire to kiss his bespectacled doubles partner.

That was then. Now, though… seeing Yagyuu and the girl (he'd seen her before, he remembered the face if not the name, albeit vaguely) embracing, kissing, wrapped around each other as though they were never going to separate again, Niou felt a sudden burn of hatred for the girl. Yagyuu was _his_, dammit, and he didn't like to share. Then surprise took over – why was he so angry anyway? Then realization – _oh fuck it all I'm in love with my best friend._

It was really quite pathetic, realizing it only at the time he was shown just how far out of reach the other person was.

When had he fallen for Yagyuu? Niou didn't know. He only knew it happened sometime between their becoming doubles partners and their becoming one of the best doubles pairs ever.

What was he going to do about it? Nothing. Yagyuu was in love with that girl (_curse it all, who is she?_). Niou knew Yagyuu well enough to know that Yagyuu did not lie when it came to feelings. When Yagyuu said he was pissed, you better paid attention because he really was pissed. If Yagyuu said he was in love with someone, he really was in love. And as much as he wanted Yagyuu to himself, Niou also wanted Yagyuu to be happy. Yagyuu looked mighty happy with that girl. Niou wasn't going to destroy that. It wasn't even as though he had been there first – he'd only just found out about his crush, while those two had been dating for quite a while, if memory served him correctly.

So, Niou had quietly left the couple and gone home to ponder his situation in solitude.

That had been on Friday.

The conclusion he had come to was the one he had acted upon today – ask Marui out.

It really was simple.

One: He was clearly gay, since he had crushed on Yagyuu and never looked twice at the many girls that surrounded him at school.

Two: He needed a boyfriend to get his mind off Yagyuu. Ever since Friday, he'd been plagued with images where _he_ and not the girl was the one being embraced by Yagyuu. There were more images, ones that resulted in the aforementioned wet dreams. He needed to be distracted, that was obvious, and since he wasn't going to be getting Yagyuu anytime soon, he needed another person as a boyfriend.

Three: Since they'd entered high school, Marui had had a system by which he accepted the first proposal of the week and broke up with the person at the end of the week. He was also a teammate, which meant Niou knew him fairly well. It was perfect for his situation. He didn't have to waste time getting to know a stranger, and it was a short-term arrangement. Just right for a distraction.

And thus, Niou had gone for practice earlier than usual to catch Marui before practice. The redhead had been reluctant, but agreed in the end. The first hurdle was cleared.

The problem was what he was going to do now. He would have to face Yagyuu again, with the weight of his new feelings and knowledge. And he would have to face Marui, with the burden of his earlier words.

Niou leaned his head against the cold metal of his locker (by this time he had safely made it through the fangirls to the changing rooms). _I guess normal is the way to go… though I might just have forgotten what's normal, in all this chaos._

He straightened, pulling on his jersey roughly. It wasn't going to be easy, but Niou Masaharu did like challenges.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Afternoon__: Marui_

Marui was snoozing in class, as usual, when his cell phone started vibrating insistently in his pocket. Cracking one eyelid, he fumbled for the phone and flipped it open.

_Bored shitless. Entertain me._

_- Niou_

The redhead would have rolled his eyes if they were open. He quickly typed back.

_I'm sleeping. You should too._

_- Marui_

He wasn't too sure whether he should be responding in quite such a way. He was supposed to be a _boyfriend_, and when in that role he would normally have taken up the request and chatted with his partner. However, this was _Niou_, and that made things a little… different. For one thing, girls weren't usually so demanding.

At least Niou seemed a bit more natural. During practice he'd seemed quite normal too, chatting easily with the other team members and teasing Akaya as usual. Not at all like the strange, almost neurotic person who had demanded that Marui go out with him. The redhead didn't know whether he liked the fact that Niou was back to normal, or freaked out by the fact that he had changed so quickly.

The phone vibrated again.

_Can't. Had coffee earlier. I want to blow something up, not sleep._

_- Niou_

There was an ominous rumble, then a crash from somewhere down the corridor. Marui stifled a laugh. Niou must have really blown something up.

_Chemistry class? Yanagi will never forgive you if you upset one of his precious experiments in that explosion =P_

_- Marui_

"Marui-kun," called the teacher.

The redhead tucked away the cell phone and feigned sleep.

"Don't pretend to be asleep. If you're awake enough to be texting, you're awake enough to pay attention in class," admonished the teacher.

"Sensei, since I'm a genius anyway, it doesn't make much difference whether or not I sleep in class," complained Marui, to the appreciative laughter of his classmates.

The teacher, Yoshida-sensei shook her head. "If it doesn't matter either way, then I would much prefer if you stayed awake. Write the answers to questions twelve through thirty on the board, please."

Yawning, Marui dragged himself to the board. He was not so sleepy he forgot to bring his homework book along with him. With an extremely bored expression on his face, he proceeded to rapidly complete the task set to him. Done, he gave another face-splitting yawn as he trudged back to his seat.

"… Very well then, thank you Marui-kun. Everyone else, check that your answers tally," said Yoshida-sensei. By now she, like the other teachers, was accustomed to having Marui in her class. Getting him to provide the answers was more an exercise to keep him from going back to sleep immediately than a punishment as it was for other students.

Niou's reply had arrived in the meantime.

_Yup.__ It was localized, so Yanagi's stuff is fine. I snuck something into Takagi-sensei's experimental setup. His eyebrows are singed now._

_- Niou_

Marui could easily picture the smirk that would have accompanied this message. The image of the chemistry teacher, Takagi-sensei (who had exceptionally thick eyebrows) with his famous eyebrows singed off, made him burst out laughing.

As he collapsed on his table, still giggling helplessly, Yoshida-sensei came over. "Would you like to share the joke with the class, Marui-kun?"

The redhead coughed, wiping away tears of laughter with the back of his hand. "Oh god I think I might've swallowed my gum…"

Jackal, sitting next to him, sighed and clapped his partner hard on the back, making him cough again. "Better?"

"Yeah, thanks," Marui said. "Sensei, Takagi-sensei's eyebrows just got singed."

Yoshida-sensei's own eyebrows shot up, while the rest of the class dissolved into fits of merriment. "Is that so? Well, that's hardly a cause to disrupt the class. Eyebrows will grow back, but time waits for no man." With that, she returned to the front of the classroom. "Quiet, please! Turn to page 38 of the textbook and…"

"Che," muttered Marui. "She's no fun."

_MondayAfternoonMarui~_

The unlikely couple saw each other next at the afternoon practice. More accurately, they bumped into each other. Literally. Having fought his way through the usual throng of fangirls, Marui walked straight into Niou, who was just about to leave the changing rooms.

"Oh. Hey," said Niou by way of greeting.

Marui glared at him, nursing his bruised head. "'Oh, hey'? What kind of way is that to greet the person you just injured?"

Niou blinked at the redhead, then grinned. "You want something more?"

Something about the way he said that (maybe it was that tiny shift of the angle of his head, maybe his voice had dropped a couple of tones) made Marui think twice about extracting an apology. He glanced at the riveted eyes of the girls behind him, shook his head in exasperation and slammed the door behind himself. "What was that?" he demanded, with the audience taken care of for the moment.

The trickster was still grinning like a Cheshire cat. "We-ell, we're a couple now, right? I thought you were asking for… something… in that sense."

_Tell me it's just my imagination – no._ Niou was definitely waggling his eyebrows, in a highly disturbing manner. Marui aimed a punch at him, but pulled up short in time to just gently knock Niou's head. "You don't have common sense, do you? It's the first day. We haven't even gone on a date yet. Public displays of affection are still a long way down the schedule!

Niou laughed. "You seriously go by such rules? I had no idea you were so childish!"

"Hey! Just because I said I would be the best boyfriend I could doesn't mean I will take insults lying down from my partner!" protested the redhead.

"And here I thought lying down was the most conventional way. How kinky you are," teased the trickster. "So how do you do it? Doggy-style? On a table? Against a wall? Or even better – against the window or the mirror?"

"What – oh." The blush that colored Marui's cheeks rivaled his hair in terms of rosiness. "The hell, Niou! I don't – I haven't – I never –"

Niou's grin widened. "I see. You're a virgin. I thought it was strange that none of your girlfriends ever got pregnant. I always thought you must have been religious about using protection."

"Oh my god, do you mean _you_ have –" began Marui, but the door opened at that point, and he immediately shut up. He did _not_ want any of their teammates overhearing this particular conversation.

"Oh, you two are early today," remarked the newly-arrived Yukimura. "Where's Genichirou?"

"He's already out there, scolding some first years for taking photos of him on the sly when they're supposed to be getting the courts ready for us," replied Niou.

Marui went to his locker to change. "I don't know why he bothers. Half of them are fans of us anyway. They're only in the tennis club to get photos the girls can't."

"It's very bad for our image if our tennis club members act more like they're a fan club than a tennis club," Yukimura reminded him, also starting to change.

"Well, we're too awesome, so we can't help getting fans," said Marui reasonably.

Niou whacked the redhead. "Can you head possibly get any bigger?"

"But it's true," protested Marui. "Isn't it, buchou?"

Yukimura smiled, but said, "Don't get overconfident."

"Got it, Yukimura-buchou, sir." Marui gave the blunette a mock salute as he walked past on his way to the door. "We'll be off first, then."

"See ya, buchou."Niou followed Marui out into the crush of fans waiting outside.

Once they battled their way through to the courts themselves, they found Sanada in full cry. "Our club is a _tennis club_, not a fan club! All those who are not here to play tennis, _get out_, _NOW_!"

A group of snickering first-years fled the courts, almost crashing into Marui and Niou. "Watch it!" Niou yelled after their retreating backs.

"Hey, fukubuchou," called Marui, tossing a water bottle over.

Sanada caught it easily. "Marui. Niou."

"Don't burst a blood vessel," the redhead told him. "Buchou would be most unhappy if you did. That's to cool your head."

"Yukimura?" Sanada frowned when Marui put on his best innocent face. "Stop fooling around and go warm up," he ordered, examining the bottle with suspicion and a fair bit of what looked like confusion.

Snickering, Marui put down his things and did as he was told. Niou joined him. "What was that about buchou?"

Marui leaned over, pretending to be stretching his side muscles. "See, I've this theory that actually fukubuchou likes Yukimura. You know, _like_ like. So I've been teasing him to see if he'll react. So far the results have been positive."

Niou stared at him. "I thought you weren't gay?"

"If you thought I wasn't gay, why'd you ask me out?" demanded the redhead. "And anyway, I don't see the link. Matchmakers don't have to be gay."

"I thought it was the whole self-identification thing," said his new boyfriend. "What about buchou? Did you try anything on him?"

"As far as I can tell, he's neutral," replied Marui with a sigh. "He just gives me this look that says 'I know you're up to something and I'm not going to take the bait' and spews some neutral non-answer."

"Oi! You two!" A shout made them look up. Sanada was glowering at them. "No talking!"

"Okay!" they called back.

They were silent for perhaps five seconds. Then Marui spoke again. "Hey, I just realized that we've probably talked more in half an hour than we normally do in a month."

"That's kind of pathetic," drawled the trickster.

"Yeah, it is." Marui glanced at Niou. _I feel like I don't know him at all. Hell, if someone asked me what his favorite color was, or his favorite ice-cream flavor, I wouldn't have a clue. What kind of teammate am I? Well, in a way it's almost easier to try to be his boyfriend like this. I don't know anything about the girls, usually. The only difference is that they know everything about me, down to my underwear color, and I'm pretty sure Niou doesn't._ "Hey, Niou?"

"What?"

"Do you know my underwear color?"

Sea-green eyes flicked over to him. "What the fuck? I know we're a couple now, but why the hell am I supposed to know your underwear color? That's just plain stalker-ness. I might be a trickster, but I'm not a stalker."

Marui shrugged. "Just wanted to check."

"Check whether or not I was a stalker?" suggested Niou.

"I guess." _Definitely different from the girls. They don't usually swear_, thought Marui. _I suppose this is what they call a refreshing change?_

"Niou! Marui!" Looking up, they saw Yukimura waving at them. With him were the remaining members of the team.

"Time to start running, it seems," muttered Marui. He disliked running. It reminded him of his stamina issues. Happily he had cake on standby.

"Can't do it 'cause you're too fat? I'll tell buchou for you. Maybe he'll let you off." Niou was smirking at him.

The redhead kicked him hard on the shin. "What kind of boyfriend calls their boyfriend fat?"

"Ow! Well, me?" The trickster offered him a hand up, though he didn't drop the smirk.

"Kindly work on it. I don't think I could handle such treatment for a whole week," Marui deadpanned, yanking the hand with rather more force than was absolutely necessary.

"Aw, how fragile you are. I suppose I should be very sympathetic and hug you right now," remarked Niou, eyes dancing.

Marui groaned, heading towards his bags where his daily supply of cake was kept. "Please, restrain yourself."

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Evening__: Niou_

After practice, Marui insisted on walking Niou home. The trickster decided not to protest, even though Marui's house was in the direct opposite direction.

On the way, they passed a tiny dango shop. The moment Marui saw it, his eyes lit up. Niou tucked his hands into his pockets. "You want some?"

"You don't mind? Great!" The redhead bounced over to the shop. "Hey, boss!"

Niou watched as his new boyfriend ordered two boxes of dango. He was still getting used to the idea that they were a couple, even if he was the one who had originally suggested it. For three years he had hung out with Yagyuu, and habits die hard.

Still, being around Marui was an interesting experience, and not at all unpleasant. The redhead was feisty, Niou knew that, but he hadn't expected him to be quite so cutely innocent about certain things. _No kissing until after the first date?_ Niou couldn't help grinning at the memory. It sounded like something out of a shoujo manga full of timid, retiring female characters. Not exactly a match for Marui's playboy image. _I guess it's only my fault I don't know more about him,_ he reflected.

"What are you grinning about?" Marui had returned, bearing two boxes of dango. One was already open; he had one stick in his mouth. He held the unopened box out to Niou, glancing suspiciously at the trickster's face. Around the dango, he asked, "Do I have dango sauce on my face or something?"

'Nope, nothing," replied Niou, taking the box. "Though, I kind of expected that we were going to share. Being as we're a couple and all."

Marui removed the stick from his mouth. "You've got a point there." He considered for a moment, then shoved the half-eaten stick of dango at Niou. "Here. Eat."

The trickster looked from the stick to Marui. "Do the 'Ahn~' thing. You know, the one they do at maid cafes when the maid feeds the customer."

"Huh? No _way_. You can't be serious. I'm not a _maid_!" exclaimed the redhead. Even in the orange light of the setting sun it was obvious that he was blushing. "You can't make me!"

"Oh yeah?" Niou grinned. "Don't say things you can't be absolutely sure of. Now, I believe that I as your boyfriend has the right to ask that you give me the 'Ahn~'. It's actually quite common nowadays."

"But – wait – " Marui was clearly casting around for a way out. "Since when was I the girl in this relationship?"

"Since it began, princess," teased Niou. "Come on, do the 'Ahn~'. You lost the right to refuse when you agreed to date me."

The redhead was still reluctant. "But you were the one who asked me. Which means you took the girl's position. Which means _you_ are the girl here, not me!"

"Whoever said roles can't be reversed?" countered the trickster. "In any case, anybody with common sense would say you're the girl here. You're the one with pink hair."

"It's _red_!" Marui denied, pouting. His hair color was a sore point. "And _you_'re the one with long hair."

"_Real_ men have long hair," declared Niou, flipping his rattail in a decent imitation of Atobe's trademark hairflip.

As he'd aimed for, Marui burst out laughing. "You – oh god, you – what the hell was that?"

"Don't drop the dango," warned the trickster, catching the redhead's arm as Marui wavered, overcome with amusement. He took the half-eaten stick of dango from Marui's hand and popped one of the small dumplings into his own mouth. "Hmm. They have a new flavor."

Recovering, Marui remarked, "I don't believe you. And I don't believe myself, either. What the hell was I thinking, to agree to date you?"

"You just came to your senses after six years of not realizing the awesomeness of my company," replied Niou, straight-faced.

The redhead poked him with an empty dango stick. "Can your head possibly get any bigger?"

"Couldn't you tell that I was doing an imitation of you? I said the exact same thing to you just a few hours ago," Niou informed him.

There was park not far from the dango shop. They sat down on a bench there to eat in comparative comfort – for all their tennis skill, it was no mean feat to carry the dango box, eat the dango standing up and not drop their bags at the same time. "So, why did you switch sides?" asked Marui.

Niou considered how to answer. In this situation, it was clearly a bad idea to tell the truth. "I saw my dad in a bra getting it on with a hooker when I was ten. I guess the shock was what did me in."

Marui glanced at him. "Do you actually expect me to believe that? I'm pretty sure those lines appeared in some famous anime or manga."

The trickster shrugged. "Hey, don't look at me. How was I to know they stole my life story?"

"The hell, isn't it the other way round?" exclaimed the redhead incredulously.

"Don't you believe me?" asked Niou, putting on his most innocent face. Which wasn't very innocent, but he did make an attempt

"No," said Marui flatly.

"Isn't trust the foundation of any relationship? What kind of boyfriend doesn't trust his boyfriend?" Niou tried.

"Not going to work," declared Marui. "Nope, not working at all. I still don't believe you."

"It's the boy who cried wolf thing," complained Niou. "Just because I have a reputation of being a trickster doesn't mean I can't tell the truth."

"Yeah, that's the truth and I'm the queen of England," Marui snorted. "But if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. I don't need to know. It's not like we're going to stick with this arrangement for longer than a week, right?"

"You are terrible at pretending to be a boyfriend," remarked the trickster. "At least put in some effort and act like you believe me. It's only a week. It won't kill you."

"I don't think my acting skills are good enough for that. It's too way out," retorted the redhead. He sighed. "I guess you're right though. I should try harder."

"Right, so you should now be very penitent and do the 'Ahn~' thing for me," suggested Niou.

Marui groaned. "Oh, fine then. I _did_ get myself into this. Don't you go around telling!" he warned, glaring fiercely at his new boyfriend.

_I love how I can see his emotions written on his face. It's so different from poker-face Yagyuu. _Niou grinned. "You're cute."

"That's no answer," accused Marui, cheeks reddening.

"Okay, okay, I won't tell," said Niou, relenting. "Now will you do it?"

Marui squeezed his eyes shut as though steeling himself, before facing the trickster. Niou caught a glimpse of the determination in his eyes before the redhead smiled sweetly, proffering his last stick of dango. There was only one dango left. "Here, ahn~…"

Niou, smirking, leaned forward and bit the dango, pulling it off the stick and swallowing it neatly. "You really are cute."

"Stop it," complained the redhead, looking away. "It's embarrassing."

"There's nobody here to see," cajoled the trickster.

"Still…" Marui tossed the now-clean dango stick into the box and threw it at the dustbin five feet away. The box flew through the opening without touching the sides. "Hah! Beat that!"

Niou finished his dango and followed suit, tossing the box with seeming carelessness at the dustbin. Like Marui's, the box soared through the opening without touching the sides. "Beaten."

"Draw!" argued Marui.

Looking down (Marui was shorter than him by perhaps an inch, which was enough for Niou to be able to look down at him) at the redhead, whose eyes – burnished tawny gold from their original violet by the setting sun's rays – were glittering in defiance of Niou's declared victory, the trickster was seized by a sudden impulse. Quickly, he reached out, catching Marui's face.

Marui's eyes widened in surprise. "What –" His words were cut off as Niou's lips pressed against his own.

The kiss lasted only a few seconds before Marui recovered enough to shove the trickster away. He stared at Niou, eyes huge in his shocked face, apparently at a loss for words.

"Sorry," said Niou. "I couldn't resist."

Marui took a few deep breaths as he slowly regained the ability to speak. "So… you really are gay."

"You thought I was pulling your leg? After all we did today?" Niou was surprised. He'd thought he'd done a passable imitation of a boyfriend. _Maybe he doesn't know that I don't normally talk that much with anyone, or spend that much time in someone else's company…_

"Yeah, well, you're the trickster, right?" Marui attempted his usual teasing grin. It came out rather watery. Clearly he was really shocked. "I thought… I said that kisses only come after dating, didn't I?"

"I thought eating dango together could be counted as a date," replied Niou carelessly. Of course, it had been nothing of the sort, but he didn't want to say it had been on impulse. "Besides, you're too cute. You're practically asking to be kissed."

"I do no such thing." Marui's cheeks were a shade of red that put his hair to shame. He stood up. "I'm going home."

"Weren't you going to walk me home?" asked Niou. _I'm _not_ begging, no, I'm not, I'm just clarifying –_

"Erm… curfew. The dango took longer than I thought." The redhead picked up his bag. "See you tomorrow."

Niou was left sitting alone on the park bench.

_I think I just screwed up. Majorly._ He leaned back on the bench, staring up at the rapidly darkening sky. _Maybe I won't even last seven days. God that is pathetic._

Only when the sun had completely vanished beyond the horizon and the stars become visible in the sky did he stand up and head for home.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

**A/N: I'm back! At last! After… hmm, after 3 months of absence from the PoT fandom and 2 from FFnet in general, I'm back with a new multichapter of a new pairing I've never written before! –dances-**

**Heh. Despite posting this, I'm not very optimistic. The PoT fandom seems almost dead (Feyren please come back as soon as you can!) Still, I'm gonna try and see how this turns out. HaruMaru is a cute pairing, as I've only just realized, and I'd like to stick with them. This is just up as a test. The next chapter (if there is a next chapter) will only be up in 4 weeks at the least (which is partly why this chappie is so long). If this doesn't get a favorable response by then I'm probably deleting this. DX I'm not threatening, I just feel that writers write for someone to read, and if nobody's reading I'm not going to bother writing because that's just pathetic. No point trying to squeeze blood from stone, as they say…**

**That aside, I hope that Marui and Niou aren't too OOC. As I said, it's my first time with this pairing and I'm still working things out. It really hurt to break the Platinum Pair up but it was necessary here. I wanted to fit the Seven Days idea – from the manga called what else but Seven Days. Those who don't know it should seriously read it. It's immensely sweet and I love both the main characters there. ^^**

**For those who didn't realize, this is supposed to be set in high school post-canon. So Marui and Niou should be seventeen-eighteen thereabouts. The rating may or may not go up depending on how the characters write themselves =D**

**Now that I look at it, I realize Marui's sections are significantly longer than Niou's. Ah well. When and if I write the next chapter I'll try to give Niou more screen time. =X**

**Please ****review**** to let me know what you think and tell me you're here so I know there's an audience! And thanks for reading this immensely long author's note! ^^**


	2. Tuesday

**Tuesday**

_Morning__: Marui_

Marui went for tennis practice even earlier than usual. As much as he hated waking up early, he also wanted to avoid meeting Niou on the way. He wasn't sure he was up to meeting his new boyfriend in the vulnerable state he always was in before morning practice.

Quite understandably, he still wasn't sure how to respond after Niou's sudden kiss. He was in the middle of a minor identity crisis. _If he does it again, am I supposed to respond? If I respond, am I gay? No, no, I still like girls. I like _girls_. I like their boobs and hips and curves. I'm definitely not gay. But I agreed to be his boyfriend. What boyfriend doesn't kiss his partner? Oh, fuck it all. It's only one week. I won't turn gay just because I kissed – no, got kissed _by_ – a guy for seven days. Yeah. I'll let him do what he wants and I'll pretend that I'm okay with it even though I'm not._ He paused, a sudden new thought hitting him._ Agh, does that make me a homophobe? Am I really that shallow? …Oh shit what am I supposed to say if he asks about it? Why am I even getting so tied up about it? It wasn't even my first kiss. It wasn't even a French and I – I _ran_ from him like I was a fourteen-year-old girl who gets embarrassed when she hears the word 'fuck'. God am I pathetic or what?_

Okay, so maybe it was a _major_ identity crisis.

He'd even lost sleep thinking about it the previous night. He hadn't tossed and turned till dawn, but he'd definitely brooded for at least an hour. And he'd had to get up an hour earlier than he was accustomed to for reasons mentioned above. All of which combined to make him even sleepier and jumpier than usual.

Shutting himself inside the changing rooms to avoid any early fans, Marui plunked himself down on a bench and opened his bag. _Cake,_ he told himself firmly. _Just what the doctor prescribed._

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Morning__: Niou_

With unusual thoughtfulness, Niou decided to leave for tennis practice later than he normally did, even though he knew he was going to get extra laps for being late. He had the feeling that Marui wasn't going to want to run into him on the way. _Well, I guess that _is_ my fault. I shouldn't have jumped him like that. Hell, it was only the first day. I barely know him. Okay, so I know his tennis, but nothing personal. That probably isn't enough to go around kissing people. Bah._

The sun had heaved its entire round self out of the horizon and was determinedly making its way up the heavens when he finally arrived at the tennis courts. "Cheers," he drawled as nonchalantly as he could on entering.

Sanada glared at him. "You are extremely late. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"Oh, you know, my dog died in the night and I had to comfort my sister," replied Niou, straight-faced.

"Tarundoru!" shouted Sanada. "Do not make excuses. One hundred laps, now!"

"Don't ask if you don't want to hear," mumbled the trickster, setting off on his laps.

"One hundred and twenty!" the fukubuchou yelled after him.

"Fine, fine. I'm still going to be on the floor after I'm done, aren't I?" Niou grumbled, though he made sure that Sanada couldn't hear his complaints.

_~TuesdayMorningNiou~_

Upon finally completing his punishment laps, Niou collapsed gratefully to the ground. _Ah, the sky is so blue…_

"Niou!" roared a familiar voice.

_Damn fukubuchou. I already did the laps, didn't I? What's he got up his ass now?_ "Yeah?" he called back.

"Don't slack off there! You and Yagyuu are playing against Marui and Jackal on the fifth court. Go, or run twenty more laps!"

_What if I said I wanted to run some more?_ Niou wondered as he peeled himself off the ground. _It'll probably be less tiring than playing a game…_

"Niou."

The trickster groaned. "Yes, yes, I'm going, I'm going!"

"No – here." Turning, Niou saw Yukimura holding out a water bottle and a towel.

"Oh. Thanks, buchou." Accepting the items gratefully, he cast a suspicious look at the blunette. "Eh… why?"

Yukimura's smile was a little too sweet. "Because I want you to play tennis at tennis practice, not run laps the whole time. Off you go, now."

_Holy fuck, he saw through me._ "Buchou, that's just freaky."

"Oh no, it's perfectly natural for a good buchou," replied the blunette, still smiling. "Hurry up. The others are waiting."

"Okay…" Niou trudged slowly off for more exhausting exercise.

When he finally reached the fifth court, the other three looked up from their various activities (Yagyuu was practicing his Golf Swing, Jackal was jogging on the spot to keep his muscles warm, and Marui was, as usual, eating cake). "Hey," he said, dumping his bag on the bench with Yagyuu's things.

"You're late, you bastard," accused Marui, swallowing a last mouthful of sinful goodness otherwise known as cake.

"Why were you so late to practice, Niou-kun?" inquired Yagyuu.

Niou steeled himself before meeting his partner and unrequited crush's eyes. "My dog died in the night and I had to comfort my sister."

"If your pets died every time you made that excuse, you'd have to have a new dog or cat or goldfish every four days," remarked the gentleman. "And I believe your sister isn't quite as fragile as that."

Shrugging, Niou took out his tennis racket. "What can I say, if you don't believe me?"

"Oi!" That was Marui, who was already leaning on the net with Jackal behind him, clearly raring to start the match. "What'cha talking about? Hurry it up, you two. I'm getting old here!"

_Well, _he_ seems to be fine. Maybe I ran all those laps for nothing. That idiot, making me think he was really upset by it._ "It's all that sugar. Ages the skin like nothing else," Niou called back.

"Hah, like I'd believe you," retorted the redhead. "Didn't you fail the last biology test? I heard fukubuchou yelling at you about it."

"Yeah, but that's because I flipped the sensei's skirt during the practical section and she failed me for the whole test." The trickster strolled onto the tennis court. "But since you're so eager, let's get this party started."

"You seem to be getting along better than usual," observed Yagyuu, as they settled into their respective positions to receive Jackal's serve.

"Really? You must be imagining things," said Niou offhandedly.

_~TuesdayMorningNiou~_

As expected, Niou and Yagyuu won. They almost always did. What wasn't expected was their winning 6-4, when they usually took the match 7-5 or 7-6.

"You seem a bit off form today, Marui," Yukimura remarked. "Is something the matter?"

"Ah… I guess may have run low on blood glucose," said the redhead, chuckling sheepishly.

The buchou raised an eyebrow. "Even after all the cake you've been eating?"

"Ehh… yeah… I suppose…"

"Well, if you say so," said Yukimura, clearly still not satisfied but deciding not to pursue the matter for the moment. "Anyway, morning practice is over. I'll see all of you after school. Don't be late."

This last was directed at Niou, who sighed. "Yes, buchou, I'll be a good boy and come on time."

Yukimura nodded. "Okay. Let's go and shower."

The regulars' changing room had an attached shower area, and Niou's locker happened to be next to Marui's. Under the noise of Kirihara's discovering that shampoo was quite as slippery as soap (_how had he lived for sixteen years without knowing?_) and Yanagi and Jackal's attempts to stop their excited junior from using up all the available shampoo to make the shower area a skating rink, the trickster caught the redhead's arm. "Hey."

Marui looked at him. Niou had the odd feeling the redhead was looking at some other part of his face rather than his eyes, which was odd because they'd already finished showering and were decent if not fully dressed. "What?"

"You really _were_ off today. And we both know it wasn't that you didn't have enough sugar. Hell, I never want to see that much cake anywhere except a cake shop," said Niou. "Are you really all that upset about yester– "

Marui slammed his locker shut, attracting the rest of the team's attention. Even Kirihara stopped laughing like a monkey on a drug high. Niou shut up, surprised by the redhead's violent reaction. He also did not wanting to continue talking in the sudden silence.

"Marui?" ventured Yukimura. "Is something wrong?"

"There was a cockroach, so I crushed it with the locker door," replied Marui blithely.

"Oh?" The blunette looked entirely unconvinced. "Well, don't do that again. If you break the door, we have to use the club money to repair it."

"Sorry," said the redhead, putting on an expression strongly reminiscent of a kicked puppy.

Yukimura smiled. "It's okay. Just be more careful."

Picking up his bag, Marui announced, "I'll be off first. Jackal?"

"Coming." The long-suffering Brazilian abandoned Yanagi to his fate and followed his partner out of the door.

_What the fuck was _that_? Did he turn into a bitch overnight or something? Hell, I didn't know a kiss could cause so much trouble. Okay then, lesson learned. Guys can be bitches too. Yippee and hooray. _Disgruntled, and not altogether sure of what he was supposed to do to improve his new boyfriend's mood, Niou shut his locker and made for the door. "Oi, Yagyuu, let's go."

"Certainly." His purple-haired partner came over.

"See ya, people," called Niou as they left the room and plunged once again into the throng of adoring fans.

Once they had emerged, they made for the main school building. "I wonder why Marui-kun was acting so oddly today," commented Yagyuu.

Niou snorted. "Yeah. I never knew guys could get PMS."

"Hmm." The purple-haired boy adjusted his spectacles. "Perhaps he's having relationship problems. He gets a new girlfriend every week, after all."

"You've got a girlfriend too, and I don't see you having any problems," said Niou bitterly.

"Niou-kun, is something the matter?" Yagyuu peered at him. "You've been a bit touchy the whole morning."

"Huh? It's nothing. Don't be such a grandma," retorted the trickster. "You'll end up all stony like fukubuchou."

Yagyuu sighed lightly. "Okay."

They walked the rest of the way to class in silence.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Afternoon__: Marui_

_It's all that stupid trickster's fault,_ groused Marui. _Everyone's been going on about how I'm not myself today. Well, of course! Who'd be perfectly fine after they'd been kissed by a gay, sadistic trickster? That I'm freaked just means I'm normal! Right? Right…?_

He'd been worried that he'd have to find a way to avoid Niou during lunchtime, but happily the trickster had stayed away at his own table. In fact, he hadn't seemed to have even noticed Marui.

The redhead sighed. _I'm freaked by the fact that he kissed me yesterday, so why the fuck am I upset he didn't seem to see me earlier? That's just self-contradictory! Oh, bloody hell. I think I've come over all female. Like one of those stupid girls who keeps dithering over whether she likes the guy or not. Gah, I'm pathetic._

He took a deep breath. _Okay, objectivity. Objectivity is the key. No use getting hung up over the details. Let's take a step back and have a look at the big picture._

The big picture made him even more confused.

One: Niou was really good-looking. He got confessions almost daily from girls from both the middle school and the high school section. He had his pick of girls. To Marui's thinking, he had absolutely no reason to be gay, yet he still, inexplicably, was.

Two: Niou hated relationships. Niou had never dated anyone in the six years Marui had known him. He rarely hung out with the team. Few people, in the tennis club or out, could honestly call themselves his friend. Yet, defying all previous data (_oh hell I'm turning into Yanagi_, thought Marui), Niou asked Marui to date him.

Three: Niou seemed to be taking the whole 'we're now a couple' thing in his stride. Marui was the only one who was making a big deal out of it. Niou had been perfectly justified in asking if there was something wrong earlier on in the changing rooms, and he, Marui, was overreacting because he was still hung up on the whole sexual orientation thing.

_Damn. I suppose that means I'm supposed to apologize to him now. _Marui heaved another deep sigh, flopping sideways onto his desk. _I _hate_ apologies. Why the hell did he have to ask me to date him anyway? Does he want me to turn gay so that he won't be the only one? Yeah, right. Like he's so insecure. Bah. It's only a week. I can hang on for a week. I think. _Sigh._ Maybe I should tell him to do the gay stuff in private. Yeah, that's a good idea. If he wants to do public displays of affection our reputations are going to crash like a hijacked airplane – in a spectacularly disastrous way._ Another sigh. _I wish he hadn't been gay. That would solve all these problems. They make me feel so uncomfortable…_

"Marui?" Jackal's voice yanked him out of his reverie.

"Huh? What?" The redhead twisted his neck to look at his partner without getting off the table.

"We're supposed to be doing section 5, questions 8 to 12, of the workbook right now," said Jackal. He looked rather worried. "Are you okay? You seem –"

"I'm okay," Marui cut Jackal off before he could finish that dreaded sentence and dragged himself upright. _Shit, it happened again. I hate you, Niou Masaharu, for doing this to me! Wait, what's '_this'_? Eh… screwing with my mind until I can't function properly, I guess This is what associating with Niou – a _gay_ Niou – does to one's sanity._ "What page is it?"

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Afternoon__: Niou_

Class was boring. Nothing unusual there. Normally Niou would have been teasing Yagyuu under his breath and getting teased in return. His favorite pastime ever had been those little games of wit with his doubles partner. Unfortunately, he couldn't bring himself to do it again, not now that he had realized his crush on Yagyuu. It was tempting, but he knew that if he teased Yagyuu now, he would be flirting, and after that there was no way back.

_Stop it,_ he admonished himself. _He's off limits now. Even if it's with a girl and not with you, he deserves to be happy. You have no right to be complaining about it now. You had your chance. You've been hanging around him for years and you never _did_ anything about it. So snap out of it and stop… _staring_ at him like some star-struck _sheep_._

This wasn't the first time he had had to give himself this little talking to. This was the second time. The first time had been yesterday. To solve things yesterday, he had messaged Marui. Given Marui's current attitude towards him, it didn't seem like a good idea to do it again.

_God save me from bitchy boyfriends, boring teachers and unrequited crushes,_ thought Niou, resigning himself to an afternoon of ultimate boredom.

At least he didn't have to worry that Yagyuu would start a conversation. Yagyuu never talked to him in class unless Niou talked first. It was a habit Niou had tried several times to change, to no avail. Now, though, it was coming in very useful.

_~TuesdayAfternoonNiou~_

Niou showed up early for practice, earning himself an approving nod from Yukimura and an unimpressed sniff from Sanada. Once everyone had arrived, Yukimura led them on their warm-up laps.

Somewhere between the tenth and twelfth lap (he lost track when he ran with the team and normally just kept going for as long as Yanagi ran), Niou realized that Marui was jogging just behind him. While he pondered whether he ought to talk to the redhead or not, Marui spoke. "Hey, Niou."

"Yeah?" He kept his eyes forward.

"Sorry about this morning."

_That_ made him turn his head. "Eh?"

"You heard me. I'm not saying it again. I mean, it's originally your fault, since you're the one who –"

"No, wait, you actually _apologized_? To _me_?" Niou still couldn't get over it. He had never heard Marui apologize to anyone apart from Yukimura and Sanada. And even that was rare. The redhead was more likely to come up with a multitude of excuses than apologize.

"Yeah. And I'm not gonna do it again, so treasure it," Marui told him.

The trickster checked his watch. "Four thirty-eight and twenty – no, more like fifteen – seconds on Tuesday –"

"Say any more and I'll trip you," threatened the redhead.

Niou relented. "Fine. So, when did you realize that you'd turned into a bitchy female?"

"I did not. I stopped myself before I completed the transformation and returned to the manly world of manliness," Marui protested. "Or at least as much of a manly man as a man can be while dating another man. Like I was saying, it's entirely your fault. You're the one who pushed me into a bitchy mode by forcing me to date you."

"PMS is caused by body hormones, not by external influences," countered the trickster.

"Says the guy who failed biology!" warbled the redhead.

"I already explained why," complained Niou. "You weren't listening? Oh, I'm so hurt. I'm wounded. What kind of boyfriend doesn't listen to their partner?"

"It's not working," declared Marui. "Just give it up, man. I'm already used to that boyfriend spiel."

"It's only Tuesday," Niou mourned. "I can't believe you developed immunity after only one day."

"That's because you overuse it," replied Marui. "You spammed it yesterday. Like, ten times. Anyone would get used to it. You're not gonna be able to guilt-trip me with that anymore."

"Not ten times," objected Niou. "Twice. And you did it too."

Marui shrugged as best as he could while running. "Hey, what's a few numbers between friends? Or boyfriends, for that matter?"

"Hey, you two!" Looking around, they saw – who else – Sanada glaring at them from where he was pounding his way around the next corner. "You're falling behind! Stop talking and start running!"

"Fukubuchou always has a pole up his ass," grumbled Niou.

"Yeah. That's because he suffers from overwhelming virginity," explained the redhead.

"What – oh. Your theory about him and buchou." The trickster somehow managed to laugh without breaking his running pace. "I _like_ that."

Marui grinned at him. "I do too. Why else would I use it?"

_And so the bitchiness and minor homophobia is over._ Niou smiled. _I didn't realize that talking crap could be this fun._

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Evening__: Marui_

The rest of practice was uneventful. Sure, Marui had had to play singles against Yanagi and got completely crushed (_so I'm helping to improve his data?_), and Niou, paired with Kirihara for doubles against Yagyuu and Jackal, had won the match in the end (7-6), but nothing really out of the usual. So, the redhead was in a generally good mood when the team trooped back to the change rooms after practice.

The good mood lasted until he remembered that by virtue of the fact that their lockers were next to each other, he was changing right next to Niou, with only a narrow piece of steel that did little for privacy, separating them. Normally this wouldn't have bothered him, since they had been doing this for almost six years already. But his identity crisis was still unresolved, even if he had acknowledged the fact that he had overreacted that morning. The boyfriend issue immediately returned, landing on his head with all the menace and weight of a good-sized dragon. He cringed. "Shit."

"Marui?" Sea-green eyes peered at him from around the steel locker door. "Something happened?"

"Eh… another cockroach," improvised the redhead.

"Stamp on it," suggested Niou, disappearing behind the door.

Marui cringed again. "I'm barefoot right now!"

"So? The cockroach still dies," the trickster pointed out.

"Yeah, but _I_ might die too if I step on it barefoot," objected Marui. "If it's poisonous, or something."

"You," Niou's head reappeared at the locker door, "are really becoming a girl. It's just a cockroach. If you're that scared, just hit it with the edge of your tennis racket. Where is it, anyway?"

"Gone," the redhead answered. "And whose fault is it that I'm getting all girly?"

"Not mine, for sure. It's only been one and a half days." The silver-haired head vanished again. "You're just unearthing new aspects of your personality. It's called maturing."

"Since when do people turn girly when they mature?" demanded Marui.

"Those two are really getting along very well," commented Yanagi.

Yagyuu nodded. "I agree."

"_We do _not_ get along well_!" Niou and Marui shouted in unison. "And who asked _you_ to copy me?" they added simultaneously, glaring at each other.

"Nice to have inter-pair bonding," observed Jackal, picking up his bag. "I'm off then. See you all tomorrow."

As the rest of the team began to make their goodbyes (they usually went home to bathe instead of just showering after evening practice), Marui finally started to change, fuming silently. _That idiot! Why did he have to say everything at the same time as me? It's like one of those staple events in animes with tsundere girls. Or boys. What the heck. Oh god, I think the team knows that something's up. Screw Niou. It's all his fault. It can't be _my_ fault; nothing's _ever_ my fault. Huh._

"You're sure taking a long time," drawled Niou. "Found some new part of your body that shouldn't be there?"

"What – no! You pervert!" Marui hurriedly threw on his remaining clothes.

"Good thing everyone's gone already," remarked the trickster. "You shouldn't be so careless with your speech."

"Yeah, well, it's your fault we're in this situation anyway," grumbled Marui. Remembering his earlier plan, he took a deep breath. "Hey, I meant to ask…"

"Yeah?" Niou glanced at him.

"Can we, like, pretend that we're… normal? In public?" He barely managed to suppress a squirm. "I mean, I don't mind if you want to do couple-ish things, but could they be kept for when we're alone or something?"

He chanced a look at Niou's face. The trickster was frowning. "So, basically, we're going to be a very-much-in-the-closet gay couple."

"Well… yeah. It's only seven days, right? We aren't even going to be together next week. If we're seen everywhere acting all couple-y, our reputations are going to be ruined. I mean, well, we'll never be able to go back to being straight in the eyes of everyone else, even if _we_ know we're really straight. This is all just for fun, right?" _Shit, I'm babbling…_

"Who's this 'we' you're talking about? Because it can't be us. I don't care shit about my reputation. They're already saying I'm gay because I haven't dated any girls. And as for you – didn't you say you'd be a good boyfriend for the whole seven days no matter who your partner is? That means you have to act like you like me for seven days." His eyes were hard. "Seven days is seven days. All hundred and sixty-eight hours of it. You don't get to wriggle out of the deal."

"But –" Marui began, knowing that he was being unreasonable but trying anyway.

What happened next happened so fast the redhead didn't realize what was going on until he was trapped. One moment, he was arguing with Niou around the still-open locker door. The next moment, his back was pressed against the next locker (Jackal's) and Niou was breathing in his face, hands holding his shoulders painfully to the unforgiving steel of the locker. "It's because I kissed you yesterday, right? Why are you so upset about it? Don't you dare say you're a lip virgin," warned the trickster. "I know for a fact that you kiss all the girls you date."

"I don't," protested the redhead. "_They_ kiss _me_, not the other way around. Like how _you_ did yesterday."

"I doubt they stopped at just that." The trickster laughed sharply.

Marui was uncomfortably aware of the fact that Niou was taller than him. It was only by an inch, but at this distance, an inch made a lot of difference. "Well…"

Niou kissed him. It was rough and angry and not at all as mild as the one the previous day. Marui was sure his lips were going to be bruised. He struggled ineffectually, and sudden fear bubbled up in his throat – if Niou really wanted to do anything to him against his will, there was probably very little he could do to prevent him.

Putting this particularly worrying thought aside for the moment, his mind returned to the strangeness of his current predicament. For one thing, the usual feeling of soft breasts pressed against his chest was replaced by unforgiving one of hard, toned muscles. Also, while the situation of him getting maneuvered into kissing with his back to a wall was not unusual, it was normally because he'd _allowed_ the girl to do it. Now, though, he had not graciously ceded control – control had been forcibly taken from him. He felt rattled in more ways than one.

His mind processed all this in the two seconds before Niou decided to push deeper. As his tongue slipped into the redhead's mouth, a new, somehow very much more important realization hit Marui. It wasn't unusual, but it _was_ unexpected.

With a sudden burst of strength (from the surprise?) he pushed Niou away. "Good god, Niou, I had no idea you didn't know how to French."

Sea-green eyes narrowed. "Yeah? Well, I, unlike you, don't go around with new girlfriends every week. So I, unlike you, don't have all that many opportunities to hone that particular skill."

Marui choked down a laugh. It wouldn't be a good idea to do so in Niou's face, especially since he was still essentially trapped against the accursed locker. But Niou's defensiveness and unexpected lack of kissing prowess really made him want to laugh until he was rolling on the floor. Niou had always had the kind of image that made the girls think he was after older women or went to sleazy pubs and clubs every other night. This new discovery certainly cracked that image plenty. "So _you_'re the lip virgin here. Man, to say I'm surprised would be the understatement of the year."

"If you go around telling, I'm going to say you're taking it up the ass and screaming like a whore while at it too," threatened Niou.

"That's not true, and anyway, nobody will believe you," Marui pointed out. "As far as anybody knows, I'm still straight. Besides, I guess you could say you aren't a lip virgin anymore. That was bloody painful, you asshole! Lockers aren't exactly soft, in case you didn't realize!"

"Huh. You deserved it," grumbled the trickster, finally releasing him. "I'm still pissed off, so don't make it worse for yourself. I can't promise what I will and won't do."

"So what, you'll jump me if I tease you? I don't know whether to call you bitchy or horny," retorted the redhead. "Anyway, it's getting really late. If we don't go soon, they're going to close the school gates. I'm off, whether you're coming or not."

"Not walking me home today, I see," remarked Niou, picking up his bag and following Marui out of the change rooms.

Marui hit him. "You just jumped me. You jumped me yesterday. Do you think I'm some kind of masochist? No way am I walking you home!"

His boyfriend grinned. "Right, then _I'm_ walking _you_ home."

The redhead gaped at him. "Wait, how the hell did you come to _that_ conclusion?"

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Night__: Niou_

Niou lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. _Well, we didn't argue about _that_ after… _that other thing_, but it's not like we solved anything. And I do see his point anyway. We'll be fodder for the fans and gossip websites if we pull any guy-on-guy action in public. But somehow I just didn't like being told that we have to stay in the closet. It's like being told I'm not worth losing a reputation for._

He turned over, punching his pillow into a more comfortable shape. _Then again, it's only a week. Kind of like having a one night stand, except in this case it's a one week stand. It really isn't worth losing a reputation over. But…_ Growling, he threw off his blankets and got out of bed. _I still hate it. Maybe it's how he did it. Like he was scared of me. _He padded over to his computer, turning it on._ He has a right to be scared of me, I guess, but…_ _it was totally out of his character. Was his being out of character what pissed me off? And if so, why?_

At last, the computer was up and running. He quickly logged into MapleStory. He had played it until nowadays it had become almost mechanical, something that calmed him and allowed him to think without actively forcing himself to think.

_He was perfectly normal when I walked him home. And he didn't complain about me kissing him. Not really. Not as much as I expected he would, after bitching the whole day about that tiny little peck yesterday. I thought he was going to blow his top and refuse to speak to me ever again like an offended chick. It's a good thing for me, I suppose, but it doesn't fit somehow. Unless he really doesn't mind acting gay as long as it's in private. I guess it's the least I could do, to go along with that. I _did_ force him into this. So I have to apologize… damn, I _hate_ apologizing. Still, if _he's_ man enough to apologize to me, then I'd better man up and apologize to him too. Hell, this is all so fucked up._

Absently, he licked his lips. _He tasted like cake. Heh, nothing surprising there… I wonder what Yagyuu would have tasted like. Wait, shit, no! No thinking about him. He's out of reach, dammit. And Marui's not bad at all. I suppose even the best guys will freak a bit when asked to act gay for a whole week. Now that he's over that, things can only get better… right?_

Niou stood up, exiting MapleStory and shutting down the computer. _Enough. Just sleep and deal with what comes when it comes,_ he told himself, flopping onto the bed.

The clock read half-past midnight by the time he fell asleep.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

**A/N: HEYYY! I'm back, and quite a bit earlier than I thought I would be. –cheers– All those reviews for the first chapter, and the nice PM from Feyren, spurred me to finish this chapter two weeks ahead of schedule. XD I guess the rule here is the more reviews I get, the quicker I'll update. SO NO SLACKING OFF ON THE REVIEWS DEARIES. Just because I decided to continue for now doesn't mean I won't decide to stop. ;P**

**I'm not particularly happy with this chapter, partly because I spammed internal monologue and partly because there were much fewer fun bits as compared to the first chappie. But then, I'm rarely happy with my stuff O.o I'd really love to hear your opinions on it though! =D**

**To be honest, I've never played MapleStory. I only know it's super popular, so it was a pretty likely chance that Niou might play it. If it's really weird, just mentally erase the 'MapleStory' and replace it with the name of a more appropriate name. –shot–**

**One more thing – I'm actually planning to get the rating of this ficcy up to M, what do you think? ;D Please review to let me know ^^**

**P.S. Anyone who hasn't listened to Shiraishi's songs, you absolutely MUST listen to them! He sounds like a Daisuke Ono who can actually sing (the real Daisuke Ono's singing voice sucks **_**so bad**_** DX)! i.e. he sounds absolutely AMAZING ! ^^ I had no idea until I saw a mention of his version of Valentine's Kiss on someone's profile and went to listen to it. Link to get his songs (and other PoT songs) is here – **http : / princeo ftennis5110 . webs . com / musicdownloads . htm **. Apart from Shiraishi, I recommend songs by Shishido, Ryoma, Oishi, and just for laughs, Tezuka and Sanada's duets (they're super funny, especially knowing how stoic the characters are XD).**

**Happy listening, thanks for reading this (once again) super long Author's Note, and don't forget to ****review****!**


	3. Wednesday

**Wednesday**

_Morning__: Marui_

When Marui arrived at school, Niou was leaning on the wall beside the gate. The redhead frowned. _Waitaminute, I can't be _that_ late, right? I got up on time, I ate breakfast and walked here and all that at the usual speed – unless he came early to wait for me? No, that can't be… Yup, can't be… He's Niou Masaharu, who am I kidding?_ "Why are you so early?" he demanded.

"Waiting for you, of course," replied the trickster. "What did you think, I'd decided to get up early and stone in front of the school gate because I thought it made me look cool?"

"It doesn't," Marui said, puzzled.

"Precisely my point." Niou heaved himself off the wall and walked over to the redhead. When Marui backed away instinctively, he stopped, a grin tugging at his lips. "Relax, princess, I won't bite."

"You don't exactly inspire trust," muttered the redhead, eying him warily. "I mean, in the first place, you never come early. Something's off."

"Well, after all, we are a couple now," the trickster pointed out with extreme patience. "By rights, we should be walking to school together. But I was too lazy to walk to your place, so I compromised by waiting here instead."

_And he's the one who was laughing at me for saying that kisses only take place after the first date._ "Who's the one being all conventional now?"

"I was merely being considerate of your feelings, princess. Of course, if you'd prefer that I rape you here and now, that works too," replied Niou, eyes glinting mischievously.

"Thanks, but no thanks," answered Marui, revolted. "And stop calling me princess. I'm not a girl."

"I know." Niou smiled slowly. "But I'll call you one when you act like one."

"I'm not!" protested the redhead. "I am acting like a normal human being wondering why someone who's normally late is unnaturally early." _That smile is… _freaky_. Why the hell would it be freaky? It's not even a smirk, or a grin, it's a _smile_, dammit, and not even all that toothy. So why…?_

"If that's so, then why's your face so red?" Sea-green eyes crinkled in obvious amusement. "I'd call that a blush, I would, and blushes are definitely girly."

"What the – " Marui pressed his hands to his cheeks. They were indeed hot. _The fuck is this?_ "You asshole," he growled, to cover his surprise.

"I didn't do anything," declared Niou, innocent as a bird. "You accuse me falsely? Oh, I am so hurt."

"I _told_ you, that doesn't inspire any sympathy," retorted the redhead, recovering quickly. "It just makes you look really, really gay."

"But I _am_ gay," Niou reminded him. "Though, for your sake, I shall pretend not to be."

"Pathetic does not suit you, so don't even try," jibed Marui, still pissed about the fact that Niou had caught him blushing. Of course, who he was pissed at – Niou or himself? – was still an open question, as was the reason he had been blushing in the first place.

Sea-green eyes narrowed, and a hand grabbed a fistful of Marui's hair, effectively stopping the redhead in his tracks. _Fuck, that _hurts_, you bastard!_ Marui felt his eyes start to water from the pain of the grip, though mercifully no hair seemed to have been uprooted. He blinked defiantly up into Niou's face, refusing to admit to the pain. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"What's your problem now?" Niou's voice was soft, but there was an intensity in them that sounded like anger. "I say I'll play your game, I go by your rules, I act the idiot to try to make you smile – what are you pissed about now?"

Marui stamped on the urge to bite his lips, a habit he had when trying to avoid giving an answer. _I'm pissed because I'm completely rattled and off-balance. And that only seems to happen when you're around. Yeah, like hell I could say that._ "It's… too early in the morning," he improvised. "I'm just… not up to dealing with you at this kind of time."

Niou stared at him, frowning. Marui stared right back, refusing to surrender. After several seconds, each of which felt like an eternity, Niou released him. Marui stumbled several steps before regaining his balance and turning to glare at his apparent boyfriend. "What the hell? Was it necessary to maul me like that? It frickin' _hurt_, you bastard!"

Niou shrugged. "Feisty boyfriends require firm handling."

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?" demanded the redhead. "Manhandling of your boyfriend is allowed? That's not very nice, is it?"

"Since when was I nice?" Niou grinned wolfishly. "And don't try to play the victim. It makes you look really, really gay."

"… I hate you," muttered Marui, turning his back on the trickster and walking briskly into the school.

Niou's footsteps indicated that he was following. "Hey."

"What?" he asked without turning around.

"Sorry if I hurt you. Just now, and… yesterday."

Marui frowned. "Don't _do_ it, then."

He slowed down slightly, allowing his boyfriend to catch up. _Since when did he apologize for anything? Oh well, maybe he really _does_ feel sorry. Which is just weird. Niou Masaharu, apologetic? _He glanced at Niou, walking next to him, and sighed inwardly. _He really confuses me. Just when I think I understand… he does something that shows that I really have no idea who he is. Playing by _my_ rules, huh?_

"Hey."

Niou looked at him. "What?"

"Thanks." Marui didn't meet his eyes.

"For what?" The trickster sounded nonplussed.

"Trying to play by my rules." This time he looked over, only to see a surprised and rather pleased smile on the trickster's face.

Niou reached over, ruffling Marui's hair. "Maybe you're not such an ungrateful little bitch after all."

Marui yelped and threw off the hand. "Don't _do_ that!"

"You're all red again." Niou laughed as Marui aimed a punch at him and ducked to avoid it. "Princess."

"Shut up!" _Bastard! And here I was trying to be nice!_

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Morning__: Niou_

The crowd of fangirls was present outside the tennis courts, as usual. Niou and Marui shared a long-suffering sigh as they approached.

Their presence was soon realized. A number of fangirls called out to them – "Marui-sama! Niou-sama!"

"Yes, yes, we're here, so could you move or we'll be late for tennis?" asked Niou without much hope. As he'd expected, his words were drowned out by the fangirls' noise.

"Marui-sama! Who are you dating this week?" shouted one girl.

"Yeah, we haven't found out yet! Tell us, tell us, Marui-sama!" chorused several others.

Niou frowned. _What will he say? If he says he's dating some girl, that girl will know it's not true. And if he says it's me, he'll be publicly admitting he's not straight, which he said he didn't want to do. I don't think he can possibly say that he won't tell –_

"Too bad, I'm not going to tell you," declared Marui loudly over the hubbub. "Find out yourselves! If I tell you everything, it won't be fun, would it?"

"Yes, Marui-sama! We will do our best!" screamed the horde of enthralled fangirls.

_Well, suck me for a fuck. He got away with it. _"How did you do that?" Niou asked as they barricaded themselves in the safety of the changing rooms.

"I never tell on who I date," replied Marui casually. "They know it, too. It's been like that since I started this… system."

"How… convenient." Niou went to his locker. "Somehow I don't recall them ever demanding to know who your date is."

"That's because the girl usually tells the others. So they don't have to ask. Or else if they don't tell, they can find out because I'm hanging out with a particular girl a lot more than usual," explained the redhead. "It's easy enough."

"Think we'll be found out?" inquired the trickster.

"Nope. Fangirls aren't particularly smart. Or even if they were, the smarts vanish when the starry eyes appear," answered Marui, laughing. "Luckily for us, or they would've rigged cameras in here and in our houses."

"Good god, that is one horrifying thought," remarked Niou, retrieving his tennis things and heading back to the door. "Nothing would be sacred."

"Wait." Turning, Niou saw the redhead standing just behind him. Without warning, Marui's hands grabbed the back of his head and pulled him into a kiss. Niou felt a tongue slide into his mouth, pressing against his own. Tentatively, he tried to press back, allowing Marui to dominate him because he was still unused to the action. The redhead had the better of him in this case.

After what felt like an age, but was probably only a few seconds, Marui pulled away. Saliva that could have been either of theirs drooled slowly from the corner of the redhead's mouth; he licked it away casually. For some reason this small action made Niou feel extremely odd. "What was that for?" he asked, as nonchalantly as he could.

Marui grinned. It looked unsettlingly like one of Niou's own grins. "Lessons. If I'm going to be dating you for a week, I would very much prefer it if you improved on your kissing skills."

Niou stared at his boyfriend in surprise, amusement and not a bit of chagrin. _Huh. Revenge for what I did earlier?_ "Maybe not such a princess after all," he said by way of reply.

Chuckling, Marui picked up his tennis things and made for the door. "Told you so."

_Whoa. I certainly didn't think he'd actually initiate a kiss, let alone one with tongue._ Niou followed the redhead out, back into the crowd of fans. _And now he says he's going to give kissing lessons. Hell, he's one strange guy. Every time I think I know what to expect…_ Reaching the sanctuary of the tennis courts, he dumped his things and began stretching. _I thought he'd be feisty. I never guessed he'd be _this_ feisty. Aggressive, even. And... I _like _it._

His mind returned to that moment at the school gate, when in his sudden surge of anger he had gripped Marui by the hair in a way he knew from experience was unexpectedly painful. He remembered the violet eyes glowing up at him, wet with tears of pain yet still afire with defiance. This was someone with a strong personality. And this strength of personality was inexplicably attractive. As he mulled the idea over, Niou realized that he didn't want someone who would fall straight into his arms, someone who could be used and thrown away without a thought, like a commodity. He wanted someone on whom he needed to work, someone who would force him to scheme and plot and strategize in order to win. Only such a person could successfully occupy his thoughts and distract him from his crush on Yagyuu. Someone so interesting, so capricious, that Niou would not bore of him.

_Seems that I chose well. I'm certainly not bored when he's around. _Niou straightened from his stretches, eyes absently tracing the movement of a red-pink head across the training area. _Seven days, eh? Two gone. Five left. Let's make the most of it._

"High school regulars, gather up!" came Sanada's familiar roar. "Niou!"

Knocked from his reverie, Niou looked around and saw that the rest of the team had arrived. "Coming!" he yelled back.

_~WednesdayMorningNiou~_

Practice that morning was nothing special. Yukimura set them all onto strength training, apparently because they had been exhibiting complacency and stagnation. By the end of the grueling session following a training menu set up by Yanagi (_the bastard knows no mercy!_), the regulars limped back to their changing rooms, visibly exhausted.

Niou wanted nothing more than to get a shower and cool off. Temperatures outside had been blisteringly hot despite the fact that it was early morning, and water bottles had been refilled several times over already. Stumbling gratefully into the showers, he nearly walked into somebody. "Sorry," he mumbled, blinking through the haze of water droplets to see who it was.

Purple eyes met his own. _Oh what the _fuck_. Marui_. "Eh… my bad?" he tried, hoping the redhead wouldn't think he was trying to do anything… indecent. It wasn't as though this was the first time they had seen each other naked – the showers were the kind where there was a whole row of showerheads and no partitions. Still, it felt weird now that they were, after a fashion, a couple. Oddly enough, they had never come face to face in the showers yesterday or the day before.

"Niou." His voice didn't sound angry, more surprised. "It's okay. I can barely see straight myself. Our three demons are such evil bastards."

"I heard that," said Yanagi from somewhere on Marui's other side.

"_Yanagi_! Say something if you're there!" exclaimed the redhead, having startled visibly.

The data master smiled slightly. "Twice the menu for the afternoon."

"I'll die!" protested Marui. "I tell you, twice of what we just did, and I'm going to die. I'll be as dead as... as… a person who's never played tennis playing against a pissed Yukimura!"

"Nice analogy," observed Niou, scrubbing out his hair. "I have to agree that that's about as dead as you get without actually going into a grave."

"Niou, be my witness. When I die, bring him to court for murder," instructed the redhead.

"How about a bouquet to your grave instead?" suggested the trickster, now shaking off like a dog.

Marui wrinkled his nose. "Nah, just get him convicted. The world will be a better place without evil data demons like him."

"Did something happen, Renji?" inquired Yukimura, who had just entered the showers.

"These two were complaining about the new training menu," answered the data master.

The buchou turned stern blue eyes on the errant pair. "This is for the best, you two. By enduring this hard training, your mental and physical strength will both improve. Do you understand?"

_How does he manage to look so much like a commander of military troops even when all of us are naked as jaybirds?_ wondered Niou. "Yes, buchou," he said, as contritely as he could."

"Yes, buchou, sorry, buchou," said Marui, also putting on an apologetic face.

Yukimura inspected their lowered faces for a moment before nodding. "As long as you understand."

Niou traded a glance with Marui. In mutual agreement, they beat a quick retreat before Sanada could make an appearance.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Afternoon__: Marui_

The redhead stared unfocusedly at the blackboard, lost in thought. Hours had passed, but Marui still had mixed feelings over his sudden decision to offer Niou 'kissing lessons'. It had been a spur of the moment thing, and he wasn't too sure whether to regret it or not.

He _did_ like how Niou had seemed a bit off balance after that. He enjoyed how he had managed to make the trickster nervous, just as he had been made nervous himself at Niou's hands. It was exhilarating to see unaccustomed uncertainty flicker through those sea-green eyes, to watch the suddenly-clumsy actions of the usually-agile trickster, and know that it was _his_ handiwork.

However.

_What if it goes too far?_ Marui wondered. _I said kissing lessons, but what if he ends up thinking that I'm all for going gay and he tries to do… more? I definitely don't want to encourage him. It's only for one week, firstly, and secondly _I'm not fricking gay_! I'm just accommodating him for these seven days, because I don't want to act all homophobic. After that, it's back to the straight and narrow. Straight being the key word here. So I've just let myself in to a remaining – eh – five days of kissing Niou, counting today. I can't even get pissed with him about it anymore because _I'm_ the one who said he needs kissing lessons. Maybe I should just dance around the school naked screaming "I'm gay and I'm dating Niou Masaharu! Please screw me right now!" at the top of my voice and be done with all this crap._

All these negatives were certainly powerful. What was more important – to him at that point at least – was something else. It could almost be a positive. But it was even more deterring.

Niou Masaharu was hot. Undeniably so. And since his identity crisis was by no means over, Marui regarded his beginning attraction to his silver-haired teammate and new boyfriend with an understandable measure of horror.

Memories began to unfold, unbidden, in his mind's eye – eating dango with Niou, the first impulsive kiss on a bench at sunset, the sudden aggression of yesterday evening and this morning. One moment laughing, talking, joking; the next, angry, violent, dangerous. Unpredictable. _Like playing with fire, being warmed and burned at the same time._ Marui swallowed a snort at the sudden poetic turn of his thoughts.

_The girls were never so difficult,_ mused the redhead._ I always knew after the first couple of days that I couldn't stick with this person for long. They were so boring. Hand-made bentos. Dates to the park, the shopping district, couple-y cafes. Get them plushies from the arcade. Every week, the same routine. Maybe an occasional change when we go to the museum or her house. Never to mine. My mom would flip if I brought a girl home… hey, I'll bet she wouldn't mind if I brought Niou home. He's a guy and a teammate and it's not like he's never been there before._

At the thought of the last time the team had come over – half the breakable dishware had been smashed, spray paint had contrived to redecorate the hall and the living room, and food had been literally _everywhere_, courtesy of a team in high spirits after their second victory over their seniors, this time in high school – Marui stifled a laugh. That had been the first and last time his mother had allowed the tennis team into her house. _Okay, so she probably _would_ mind._

The bell rang, jerking him out of his thoughts. "Mmh… what's the next lesson?" he mumbled in the general direction of Jackal.

"Math. Perhaps you'd better wake up," suggested his seatmate, in his usual matter-of-fact way.

Math was the bane of Marui's life. Genius though he may be, he just could not get math. It was as though the numbers and concepts were actively fighting him, refusing to let him subjugate them as he had so many others. Of course, with the advent of the calculator, things had become easier. The horrors of the multiplication tables were now a thing of the past. The new, even more horrible horror now was algebra.

Yes, Marui was a final-year high school student who still struggled with middle-school algebra. A living example of the word 'pathetic'.

He let out a heartfelt groan. "Doom… Doom cometh to me…"

"You say that every math lesson," said Jackal unsympathetically. "If you'd just _study_ instead of moan about it –"

"But I don't study!" objected Marui. "I'm a _genius_. Genii do not study. It's, like, a universal truth."

"Maybe, but for some obscure reason, you, a genius, are only able to pass math if you study," replied his partner, overly patient. "It won't kill you to study just _one_ subject. It's not even a difficult subject."

"You _mock_ me," drawled the redhead in his most ominous, Chief Genius of the World aka Demon King Incarnate voice.

"Yeah, I guess I am," agreed Jackal, in his most bored tone. "You're a genius who can't do math. If I don't mock, plenty of others will."

Marui slumped onto his table, resigned to another evil waste of time known to others as a math lesson. "Oh, just shut up."

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Afternoon__: Niou_

Niou did not like paying attention in class. For one thing, the teachers weren't much more effective than a textbook since they almost invariably read directly from the textbook in the misguided belief that hearing the sacred words from a teacher would somehow be more effective than simply directing the students to read the textbook themselves. For another, it suited him to be seen as a slacker and apparent genius who did well without studying. It helped that he found studying on his own to be more efficient than studying in school. Also, there was always Yagyuu to help if he ran into difficulties.

He could probably still call his unrequited crush for help if he needed it – acting normal was a lot easier on the phone than in person. Glancing at the blackboard, he noted with satisfaction that the next lesson was math. No problem. Math was one of his favorite subjects, something that he could do without being taught, or so he liked to believe. Niou could afford to not pay attention.

Without much difficulty, he slipped into his long-perfected mode of sleeping with his eyes open. To most casual observers, Niou appeared to be leaning on his hand in a characteristically bored pose, eyes fixed uninterestedly on the board. To those who looked closely, though, the oddly blank look in his eyes would have been apparent – the kind of look that signified his body was here but his mind somewhere else completely.

Memory flickered – Marui's hands gripping the back of his head, the lips and tongue moving against his own, the welling excitement and pleasure in his mind and body, the unexpected joy of touch. Because this time the redhead was willing. Niou had not forced him. Somehow, it made the taste of the kiss that much different. _Well, he also hadn't eaten his cake yet,_ Niou reminded himself. _Or his bubblegum._ The lack of the sweet strawberry and tangy apple felt weird, possibly because Marui, strawberry cake and apple bubblegum were so inextricably linked in Niou's – and probably the rest of the team's – mind.

This time the redhead had tasted of mint, most likely due to toothpaste. _Huh. Somehow that is so… mundane. And yet it's also kind of interesting. Like you can tell what he's been doing just by kissing him._

Again the memory of the warm touch, the violet eyes. _I could get used to this. Fuck, I could _really_ get used to this. Am I getting in over my head? If I stop crushing on Yagyuu, only to start crushing on Marui – no, no way. That's not going to happen. I know what's going on now. I won't be such an idiot. Yagyuu was… an accident. I won't let that happen this time._

"Niou-kun." A familiar voice and a hard nudge pulled him back to the present. Yagyuu. Of course. "Sensei wants you to write the solutions for the next ten questions on the board."

The trickster glanced at the math teacher, a severe-looking woman with her eyebrows furrowed as she watched him. _Old bitch. She knows I get some of the top marks in the class, and she still can't let me sleep. Che._ Another memory prickled him, and he grinned involuntarily. _Suffers from overwhelming virginity, I shouldn't wonder._

"What are you laughing about?" demanded the sensei. "Hurry up and write the answers!"

"Yes, sensei," replied Niou in his most bored drawl as he obeyed the order.

_~WednesdayAfternoonNiou~_

The team suffered through another round of the morning's training menu, but afternoon practice was otherwise uneventful. Luckily for Marui, Yanagi did not act on his earlier threat of doubling the redhead's menu, though he _did_ get an extra twenty laps. Niou suspected that Yukimura's short lecture in the bath had not been quite enough to get Marui off the hook.

Walking out of the school, Niou glanced at his boyfriend. "Which way?"

The redhead considered for a moment. "Well, I did twenty laps more than you."

"Okay, okay, I'll walk you home." Niou sighed theatrically. "The things I do for a boyfriend."

"Payment for kissing lessons," replied Marui, grinning mischievously. "But we'll go your way tomorrow. The dango was nice."

Shrugging, Niou set off down the road. "You think only of your stomach, I see."

"I do not." Marui fell into step beside him. "Hey, Niou?"

"Yeah?"

"Just out of curiosity, was I your first kiss?"

Niou looked sharply at the redhead. _What the hell? _"No," he said guardedly.

"Oh." Marui's eyes remained fixed to the front; his tone didn't give anything away. "Well, that's okay, then."

"What if I'd said yes?" inquired the trickster, curious.

The redhead thought about it. "That'd be okay too, I guess."

"If it's okay either way, why the heck did you ask?" Niou watched his boyfriend, feeling as though he were a taxonomist inspecting an entirely new species under a microscope.

"Just wanted to know." Marui shrugged. "I don't really think it means much, but it's nice to know. Like, the first is supposed to be special and all. So who _was_ your first?"

"I've forgotten," admitted Niou.

"You _forgot_ your first kiss?" The redhead turned incredulous eyes on him. "What kind of Philistine are you?"

"I was eight, and it was a dare," the trickster defended himself. "No tongue, obviously."

Marui looked marginally appeased. "Oh. Was it a girl?"

"Yeah." Niou restrained himself from adding 'duh' to his reply. He _was_ gay now, so maybe it wasn't all that obvious to his boyfriend. "Oh, and if you're going to ask, no, I didn't kiss anyone else till two days ago."

"Really?" The redhead pondered this for a few seconds before smiling. Just as Niou was relaxing, his boyfriend suddenly said warningly, "You'd better not be lying."

"Why would I lie?" asked Niou, nonplussed by the sudden suspicion.

"How should _I_ know? You're the trickster," retorted Marui. "Anything you say might be a lie. I mean, the whole thing about your dad in a bra just can't be true."

"Well, fine, _that_ was a lie," Niou conceded. "But this is true, okay?"

"I heard somewhere that if someone tells you that what he says is true, it's more likely to be a lie," said Marui. "So I'm even less inclined to believe you."

"What the fuck –" About to blow his top at the unreasonableness of his boyfriend, Niou noticed the glint in Marui's violet eyes. "Wait. You're _baiting_ me, aren't you?"

"Damn, you found out." The redhead laughed. "That was quite fun!"

"You bastard," grumbled the trickster. "I can't believe I nearly fell for that."

"The trickster got tricked!" Marui warbled in a highly insulting tone.

"Shut up, idiot," growled Niou, still stung.

"Or what?" Those dancing violet eyes laughed at him. "You'll do what?"

Inspiration struck. _Well, he can't complain about it now that he offered…_ Niou grabbed his boyfriend's collar, pushed him against a convenient lamp post and caught his lips in a kiss, effectively silencing him. This time, Niou was more daring, sliding his own tongue into Marui's mouth and exploring it. When the redhead tried to return the favor, he pulled away and grinned down at him. "Or else that's what you'll get, you little tease."

Marui was panting slightly. "Horny bastard," he muttered, pushing himself away from the lamp post.

"So, have I improved?" asked Niou, unable to resist pushing his victory further.

"Not as good as me yet, so don't get all confident," replied the redhead, kicking him hard on the shin. "My genius extends even to kissing."

"Ow! I kiss you and I get kicked for my troubles. What kind of boyfriend are you?" grumbled the trickster.

"You get kicked because, idiot of a boyfriend that you are, you just did that in public and in broad daylight. If I get killed by my parents because some random grandma saw us and spread the news that I've turned gay, I'll haunt you forever," threatened Marui.

"Such faithfulness. I should be grateful, shouldn't I? Anyway, _you_'re the one who said I need lessons in kissing," Niou reminded him. "So you shouldn't bitch about it."

"Me? Bitch? Perish the thought," declared his boyfriend. "I am stating my opinions in a calm, mature manner!"

Niou choked, then started to laugh. Marui really was impossible. The thought flashed in his mind again – _I could really get used to this…_

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Night__: Marui_

The water from the shower pounded down on him, hot and soothing. Just what he needed after a long day. _Damn those three demons,_ Marui thought, feeling the ache in every muscle of his body.

His eye caught on the brightly colored corner of a magazine as he made to step out of the shower. He paused, considering. It had been a few days already, and his parents and siblings were all safely upstairs. Now was as good a time as any. Reaching out, he took the magazine.

The magazine was one he knew well, had used often. The familiar pictures of his favorite porn actress-model seemed to jump from the pages into his memory. Each of them was embedded there, just waiting to be called to the fore. He closed his eyes for a second, fixing the erotic images in his mind, feeling the familiar stirrings of heat that had nothing to do with the hot shower.

Replacing the magazine carefully in its hiding place, Marui retreated back into the shower stall. Less mess that way, after all. On sudden inspiration, he turned the shower on again, enjoying the renewed cascade of hot water caressing his body even as his mind turned to caresses of a less pure kind.

_Rounded, pleasantly soft breasts presses against him as she leans close. She moves against him, wrapping her arms and legs sinuously, sensuously around him. He can see her red, full lips open as she breathes, eyelids lowered coyly, dark hair swirling around her shoulders and down her curved back. "Marui-kun… I love you… I want you…" she whispers._

_He catches hold of her hips as she rubs herself agonizingly against his body, causing her to look up at him, pouting. "Marui-kun…"__** Sea-green eyes, dark with lust, stare into his own.**_

Marui's eyes snapped open as he was knocked rudely from his fantasy. The actress had blue eyes, he was sure of that. _What was that?_

But the first images had served their purpose; he was already hard, the blood thrumming in his veins and echoing in his ears. The job had to be finished. Besides, this fantasy had been well-tested and guaranteed success.

_His hands move to her knees, pulling them to his waist even as her beautifully curved rear brushes against his member. She grips his hips tightly between her lithe thighs. "Make me yours, Marui-kun," she breathes, voice sultry, arousing him even further. How can he deny her? He pushes her downwards, sliding into her – __**His hands are buried in silver hair, the head bent, harsh breath ghosting over his erection. Sudden heat engulfs him; the head bobbing up and down as he gasps. A tongue sliding tantalizingly over his length makes his entire body shudder. Warm hands, rough with calluses, grip his trembling thighs. Without warning, the amazing heat vanishes, and the head tilts upwards. There is a mischievous grin on that familiar face. "Hey, princess," purrs that damning voice.**_

"Niou…"

His eyes opened again, slower this time. Marui stared disbelievingly at his hands, still loosely wrapped around his member, as though it is their fault. His erection was hard and already slick with pre-come. _It isn't usually so fast…_

Marui debated for a moment on continuing. His mind warned that if he went any further he would sorely regret it, but his body was screaming for release. He was so close. Against his better judgment, he leaned against the glass walls of the shower stall once more.

_He moves inside her, aroused even further by her moans of pleasure. He can feel her breasts compressed between their bodies, the warmth of__** Niou's hands on his buttocks, supporting him as he melts into that devilish heat, that divine heat. His hands clench involuntarily in that silver hair when teeth scrape thrills of pleasure on the rough skin of his erection. Tears leak from the corners of his eyes as the pleasure reaches excruciating heights.**_

"_**Wait," he gasps. "Niou, wait!" The kneeling figure ignores him, continuing with his ministrations. Every movement of his teeth, tongue and throat sets off a tiny bomb that temporarily shorts out his mind. "If you don't stop, I'm going to –"**_

_**He never finishes his sentence. White pleasure explodes, sending an electric shock through every nerve in his body.**_

Marui came harder than he had in a long time.

He stayed where he was, unmoving, for several seconds as the aftershocks of the orgasm shuddered through his still-trembling body. When his mind finally began to shake off the shocked dust and his breaths evened out, he slumped, sliding down the glass wall until he was seated on the floor of the shower stall with his knees drawn up to his chest. The now-lukewarm water continued to rain down, washing away the evidence of the activities of a few minutes past. He curled himself tight, shivering slightly.

_What the hell was that?_

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

**A/N: Eh… I did say the rating would go up. Maybe it went up a bit fast… but well, this was according to the plan. The next chapter will be more of fluff and couple-y bonding. ;)**

**Apologies to those who wanted me to cut down on the italics. (Wth, it's practically an entire scene in italics O.o Sorry!) Again, I can only say that it's because this little episode was part of the plot.**

**I do hope that the romance isn't going too fast. When I was rereading, I wondered if it was even possible to get to this stage in a het relationship within three days, let alone a gay one with both parties not exactly in there for romance. But, well, I **_**am**_** trying to squeeze a full romance into the time span of seven days, which is in itself unrealistic. To those who have not already done so – please actively participate in suspension of reality when reading this fic.**

**Were the characters too OOC? The worry is always there, and though it receded a bit in the last chapter, it's back with a vengeance for this one. Niou's violence, for one. I get the impression that he's a volatile character, while Marui strikes me as impulsive and playful, but this might be taking a bit too far. I really hope it's okay. :-X**

**In addition, the next chapter will take a while, probably coming around Christmas if things go well. Firstly, because I'm going overseas (again). Secondly, because Kid9535 reminded me that we really ought to finish the How To Guide before the end of the year (we promised we'd be done by March and it's still rotting O.o). This chapter was finished early so that I could devote more time to the sadly neglected How To Guide. Those who have not read it and want something humorous, please check it out =D**

**On another note, I've written a Mischief/Perfect love triangle oneshot. Please read it, though I must warn you for angst. Hope to see you there =)**

**Please ****review**** to let me know your opinions, especially with the increase in physical interaction both real and fantasy ^^ of which I'm sure you all have plenty to say –points at the review button– and, of course, the new rating! Refer to previous chapter for my dictatorial demands for reviews XD**


	4. Thursday

**Thursday**

_Morning__: Niou_

Like the day before, Niou met Marui at the school gates. The redhead looked more tired than usual. Niou glanced at his boyfriend's eye bags. "Late night?"

Marui yawned widely, falling into step beside the trickster as they walked into the school. "I guess so."

"What do you mean, you _guess_ so? If it was late, it was late. There's no _guess_ about it," objected Niou. Something was off about Marui. It wasn't really obvious or anything – maybe the redhead wasn't really meeting his eyes, maybe it was the way he seemed almost wary of Niou despite his apparent sleepiness. Whatever it was, Niou wanted to investigate.

"Well, I went to bed early, but I have no idea when I slept. So I'm not too sure how late it was," replied his boyfriend, yawning again.

"What, couldn't sleep for thinking of me?" joked the trickster, anticipating the usual indignant response.

He was surprised when that response did not occur. Instead, Marui looked away. "Shut up, Niou."

"Wait, don't tell me I'm right." Niou peered at the redhead, genuinely concerned. _This is really not like him…_

"Huh, as if! Who'd lose sleep thinking of _you_?" retorted Marui, glaring at him with a sudden return of personality. "Bastard."

The trickster laughed. "_That_'s more like you." Reaching out, he ruffled his boyfriend's red-pink hair. "I like you fiery, princess."

Marui jerked like he'd received an electric shock at his words and his touch, immediately darting out of Niou's reach. "Stop _doing_ that!"

_Huh, so he's all right after all. _Niou laughed again. "Princess."

If he had looked a bit closer at his boyfriend, he might have noticed the flash of a wild, haunted look in those violet eyes.

However, he didn't look that bit closer, and he led the way to the tennis courts in oblivious happiness.

_~ThursdayMorningNiou~_

"I have an announcement to make." Yukimura, having gathered the team, told them. "Afternoon practice today is canceled."

The regulars murmured among themselves. The Rikkaidai tennis team _never_ canceled practice.

Yukimura's volume increased by a few decibels. "I need to go to the hospital for a checkup."

"But you've been fine for _years_," whined Kirihara, who looked like his dog had just died. "Are you sick again or something?"

The blunette gave him that special smile reserved for the baby of the team. "It's okay, Akaya. I just have to see the doctor once every six months to make sure that I'm still fine. The disease hasn't come back."

"Oh." The curly-haired boy's face brightened. "Can I go with you?"

"Of course, Akaya. In fact, I'm sure the doctors won't mind if everyone comes. They've been very understanding," said Yukimura.

"I will go with you," rumbled Sanada. Niou glanced at Marui, sure that his boyfriend would have something to say about this show of protectiveness, but the redhead did not meet his eyes.

"Sorry, I cannot," said Yagyuu, looking appropriately apologetic. "The student council work has been piling up…"

Yagyuu was a fairly important member of the student council, despite his having greater commitment to tennis. Yukimura nodded his acquiescence.

"I will accompany you," said Yanagi, speaking to the blunette. "However, I would recommend that Niou and Marui not come along. With Akaya alone, the hospital will be hard put to accommodate us. With all three, disaster is inevitable."

"We visited the hospital when buchou was there without any trouble," grumbled Marui.

"Yes, and you ate the cake we meant to give buchou. That can be considered disaster of a certain degree," replied the data master. "And Akaya ran into Fudomine and Seigaku, causing plenty of trouble on that end. If I may say so, just one of you is enough."

Yukimura nodded decisively. "Very well. You two can have the afternoon off. Jackal, I would like to ask that you come along to look after Akaya."

"I'm seventeen! I don't need him to look after me anymore!" protested Kirihara indignantly.

The blunette smiled at the curly-haired boy. Somehow, the smile managed to look simultaneously sweet and dangerous. "Did you say something, Akaya?"

"No, no I didn't," Kirihara answered, inching away from their pretty buchou.

"Good. So, it's decided. I will meet you after school at the gates, probably about fifteen minutes after dismissal." The unspoken _so that the fans won't notice_ was understood by all of them. "Marui, since it's a rare opportunity, I suggest you work on your math."

The redhead groaned. "Yes, buchou."

A faint smile crossed the blunette's face. "You might ask Niou for help. He likes math. Isn't that so, Niou?"

The trickster shrugged. "You could say so."

Yukimura smiled again, more obviously this time. "Very good. Practice is over; let's go change."

Once more, Niou glanced at Marui. The redhead's averted eyes still didn't sit well with him. _Maybe I'll invite him over and we can have a proper talk._

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Afternoon__: Marui_

Today, Marui couldn't sleep in class. Even though his body longed for rest, his brain refused to stop churning. His mind kept returning to the text message Niou had sent that morning.

_Want to come over later? Nobody's at home._

_- Niou_

It was probably an entirely innocent invitation. Yukimura had practically ordered him to go to Niou for math tuition, after all, and the trickster was just offering his house as the location. Nobody at home meant that it would be quiet, or at least relatively so compared to Marui's house where his two younger brothers wrecked havoc on a daily basis. To think that the message had an ulterior motive was really quite silly.

And yet…

The memory of the previous night still stood out with unnatural clarity in Marui's mind. Every time he met Niou's eyes, he remembered how they had been fevered in passion in his fantasy. Even his voice made a sudden shiver run down the redhead's spine. He was devoutly grateful that the trickster had made no attempt to kiss him that morning.

'_Nobody's at home.'_

Marui wanted to curl up in a corner and tremble. _Alone. With Niou. For a whole afternoon. I don't think I'll survive._

Survive – his sanity, that was.

'_Want to come over later?'_

Was it just him, or was it very much like one of those crude pick-up lines? The barely-concealed equivalent of _Want to have sex later?_

No, no. That had to be his imagination. The shock of the previous night and the lack of sleep were fuelling his fevered imagination. There was no way Niou wanted to sleep with him, or knew that Marui had fantasized of having sex with him. Niou didn't know, couldn't know, mustn't know. Marui would die of embarrassment if he knew.

_Bah. He can't read minds, so what am I so hung up about?_

At lunchtime, Marui had made sure to sit as far away as possible from the trickster. Those damnable sea-green eyes had lingered on him for a moment, puzzled, but Niou had said nothing. Hopefully, he'd simply accepted that Marui didn't want to appear too chummy with him.

Hopefully.

_What if he senses that something's up? No, it can't be. He doesn't know me _that_ well yet. But… A whole afternoon alone with him. Three hours, maybe. That's more than enough. He'll definitely realize._

Marui looked at his cell phone. The message still glowed on its screen, unanswered.

_I can't say no, can I? He knows that I can't have anything planned because none of us knew that practice would be cancelled today. And if I say no, it'll be too obvious that something's wrong. If I said I was sick…?_

Sea-green eyes appeared in his mind's eye, tempting, taunting. _Coward_, they mocked silently.

Marui gritted his teeth. He would not back down from a challenge.

_Ok._

_- Marui_

Seconds later, his phone vibrated. Niou had replied.

_Took your own sweet time to answer, didn't you? See you after school._

_- Niou_

Taking a deep breath, Marui prayed to any and all gods who might be listening that he hadn't agreed to something he would seriously regret.

_~ThursdayAfternoonMarui~_

The final bell rang, its peals accompanied by the clatter of students collecting their things ready to leave whether or not their teacher has officially dismissed them. With the ritual goodbyes to the teacher, the students began to pour out of the classroom. Soon there was nobody left but Marui.

_This is my last chance to run…_

"Oi, why are you dawdling there?" The sound of that familiar voice made him jump in his seat. Niou stood in the door of the classroom. "Come on. We'd better make a run for it before the fangirls realize that there's no tennis today."

Marui grabbed his bag. _Normal, think normal. _Normal,_ dammit. Everything is fine with the world. There is absolutely no problem whatsoever._ "You've got a point there. Race you to the gate."

"Hah, you actually think you'll win?" Niou shouted as the redhead dodged through the crowds.

"Coming through!" yelled Marui, cleaving through the throngs. Exhilaration pulsed in his veins. He always loved chases and suchlike; the fact that it was Niou just upped the excitement.

"Marui-sama! Niou-sama!" The shouts of their fangirls echoed in their wake as they raced past. One ambitious girl actually managed to snag Marui's bag. Shaking her off, he saw the trickster's trademark silver hair only steps behind, and plowed on with renewed energy.

They reached the gate at the same time, both of them laughing and panting as they touched home. "Safe!"

"I beat you," declared Marui as they started down the road towards Niou's house.

"Did not. It was a draw," objected Niou. "Besides, I started later than you."

The redhead didn't bother arguing. "Stop by the dango shop on the way, okay?"

"Out of sugar already?" suggested the trickster.

"Nope. I just need sustenance before tackling the dreaded subject of math," Marui corrected. "That it has to be done with you just makes it even worse."

"Hey, I'm sacrificing a whole afternoon of slack time just for you. The least you could do is act grateful," complained Niou.

"I'll be grateful _afterwards_," replied the redhead. "I need dango _first_."

"I'll take you up on that, princess," said Niou, smirking at him. Marui suddenly realized he was grinning half-challengingly at his boyfriend. _I think I'm flirting. Oh fuck, this is bad! I'm digging my own grave!_

Recovering himself, the redhead accused, "Pervert."

Niou only laughed. "Princess."

"I hate you," Marui grumbled. _Stop calling me that – !_

"I love you too, princess," answered the trickster, his eyes still laughing though his expression had been schooled into one of utmost seriousness.

"Bah!" was Marui's eloquent dismissal of that very weighty confession.

"Come to think of it, I don't think the team's ever been to my house," commented Niou, ignoring the redhead. "How privileged you are."

"Any more of that and I'll start calling you Atobe," threatened Marui.

"Okay, okay. I'll stop." Niou grinned. "You're really fun to tease, you know."

"And _you_ are a sadistic bastard," Marui retorted, not looking at the trickster in hope that the rising heat in his cheeks would go unnoticed.

"But I'm so nice," protested his boyfriend. "Is there nothing that will convince you of my niceness?"

"Treat me to dango and I'll reconsider," suggested the redhead.

"Your opinion is cheap to buy," observed Niou.

Marui kicked him on the shin. "Bastard."

"A bad name is merely a fart with consonants," Niou declared superciliously.

"The effect is pretty much ruined by the minor problem of you hopping on one foot while saying that," the redhead told him, holding on to a straight face with difficulty.

"Aw, darn." Niou's face was comically distraught. This time Marui couldn't restrain himself from laughing out loud. After a moment, Niou started laughing too.

_~ThursdayAfternoonMarui~_

They were heading down a side road, chewing on the last of their dango in companionable silence, when Niou suddenly stopped. "What is _she_ doing here?" he muttered.

"Huh?" Marui looked around. The only person on the street apart from them was a girl leaning against the fence of a house up ahead. Her head was turned away from them, so that they could not see her face, but only her hat and the long dark hair flowing beneath it. _Who…?_

"Stay here and don't move," ordered Niou.

"Wait, who –" began the redhead, but Niou was already running towards the girl.

As he watched, the girl turned and smiled at his boyfriend. They talked; from this distance, Marui couldn't hear what was being said. The girl suddenly hugged Niou around the neck. The next moment, she pulled away and, reaching up, patted his cheek.

_What the fuck? Niou's girlfriend? No, he said he's gay, right? But… maybe it was all a lie. He was just playing around, experimenting with me to see if he could go for guys. That's definitely possible… what kind of crap is this? Wait, is she even his girlfriend? Nobody ever heard that Niou had a girlfriend.__ How could he have a girlfriend and nobody know? And she's kind – of – familiar – in a really, really vague way. Like I met her in grade school. She's really _acting_ like a girlfriend, though…_

Marui frowned as the girl finally stepped away from his boyfriend. _If he's been screwing my mind around these past few days when he's been straight all along, I'll kill him. I swear I'll kill him._

With a start, he realized that the girl was walking towards him. The street was a dead end, so the only way to leave was the way they had entered. However, Marui had not registered this fact, and as she approached, he was seized with that horrible feeling of being a deer in the headlights.

As she came closer, a distant part of his mind noticed that her legs were long and slender. Her figure was sweetly slim and she was almost his height. Though she wasn't particularly curvy or well-endowed, she was definitely attractive.

She stopped in front of him and bowed slightly. He quickly bowed back, his mind churning. _Is she going to apologize and say that oh, sorry, but she and Niou have been going out for a long time and she didn't know what he's been telling me but it's all a lie?_

"Thank you for looking after Haru," she said.

Marui blinked, at a loss for words. _Haru…? Holy shit, does she actually call Niou _Haru_?_

"I hear that you're his tennis teammate, Marui-kun, is it?" She straightened from her bow. He could now see her fine, delicate nose and mouth. Her eyes, however, were closed as she smiled at him. It was oddly reminiscent of a certain brunette on the Seigaku team.

He nodded wordlessly.

"Just hurry up and go, will you?" Niou appeared beside them. He had probably been behind the girl all the while, but Marui only saw him now. His boyfriend was scowling at the girl. _Oh, so maybe she's his ex? He doesn't want her around because she would reveal that all he said these past few days are lies?_ His mind whirled, still trying to make sense of the situation.

"I'm going, Haru. It was nice meeting you, Marui-kun." She turned that smile on him again, and Marui tried to smile back. Niou still looked stormy. "Bye, Haru. Call whenever you feel like it." With another smile at both of them she set off down the road again. Before long, she reached the end of the street, turned and waved at them, and vanished around the corner.

"She's pretty. What's her name?" inquired Marui offhandedly, determinedly not looking at Niou.

The trickster snorted. "Don't go getting ideas about her. She's out of your reach."

"Why? What's that supposed to mean?" the redhead demanded. _Is it because she's _your_ girlfriend already?_

"One, because you're my boyfriend, and I don't appreciate cheating. Two, because she's my older sister. Three, because she's engaged to be married." The trickster looked at him, laughter in his eyes. "Did I just crush your dreams of dating her?"

"Wh – no!" Marui could feel his cheeks heating up, embarrassed at his misunderstanding. At the same time, the tight knot that had been forming ever since he'd seen the girl seemed to unravel as relief surged. "Of course not!"

"Really? I could see you staring at her the whole time. She sometimes attends our matches, so you should've seen her before," said Niou, starting back towards that house where his sister had been waiting. "Her name's Masako, by the way."

_No wonder she looked familiar._ "I wasn't staring," the redhead grumbled, following.

"Whatever you say, princess," replied his boyfriend, grinning.

Marui let it slide. Protesting at each instance was clearly going to be a waste of time and energy. "I thought you said there was nobody home?"

"Yeah, well, she wasn't _supposed_ to be there." Niou did not look particularly happy. "She said that she was in the area and came back to check in on me. How obvious could she be?"

"Where was she supposed to be?" asked Marui, curious as to Niou's displeasure with his sister.

"Tokyo. She's been living with her boyfriend for a while now," answered the trickster. "She wouldn't have been separated from him so easily. I bet my mother ordered her to come and look in on me. They don't trust me not to blow up the house and 'forget' to inform them about it."

"Your mother is where?" The redhead was getting rather confused. Niou seemed to have a very complicated family situation. Niou being what he was, Marui had to some extent expected that, but that didn't make it any less muddling.

"On a so-called 'trip to find love' with her other single-mom friends. I don't know why she bothers. It's not like we need a father anymore, and I _know_ she's got a couple of toy-boys at work." They had reached the house, and Niou fumbled for his keys. "Maybe she just wants a guy around to boss. Or maybe she wants to quit working. Women. There's no understanding them."

"Is that why you're gay? Because you've been surrounded by weird females all your life and don't want another one?" suggested Marui, peering into the house as Niou opened the door.

"Could be." The trickster shrugged. "Come on in."

The redhead entered the house with some trepidation. Nobody went to Niou's house; it was some kind of unspoken rule. No one on the team had ever suggested it as a venue for any group activities, not even Yukimura. Neither had Niou ever offered. As far as Marui knew, Niou's classmates had never dared suggest they meet up in the trickster's den for any reason. Perhaps it was because Niou did not come across as hospitable at all. Or because his notoriety led people to believe that his home might be something out of a drama crime scene – bloodstains, smashed furniture, broken glass, the works. Marui felt oddly privileged to be invited to this forbidden ground, and simultaneously excited to see the reality of the infamous House of Niou.

As is often the case, the reality was somewhat of a letdown. It was just an ordinary Japanese house. The entrance had that little space for people to take off their shoes, and the through the second door was a large room with a dining table and four chairs. A section of this room was tatami, with cushions on the floor and a TV set. This was the living and dining room, Marui assumed. Windows (intact) let in the afternoon sunshine. Through another door to the side, he could see a fridge and cooking stove – the kitchen. Stairs led to the upper floors of the house.

"Were you expecting a dead body somewhere?" Marui jumped, startled, as Niou interrupted his inspection of the house. The trickster was smirking ironically. "Sorry to let you down. It's just an ordinary house."

"It's… nice," said the redhead lamely. When Niou's smirk widened, he quickly added, "No, really! I mean, considering that you're living alone – you are, right? – I thought that it'd be a huge mess or something."

"Well, I don't usually use the rest of the house apart from my own room," said Niou. "My sister might've dusted around a bit, too. Come to think of it, maybe she was thoughtful enough to do some grocery shopping for me." Dropping his bag onto the table, he disappeared into the kitchen. "Awesome! She did!"

"Do you live on the groceries done by your sister? How often does she come, anyway?" Marui went to the kitchen door to see what his boyfriend was doing.

"Oh, about once in two weeks or so. And no, I don't. She doesn't always do my groceries, for one. Plus, if the fridge is empty, I just buy stuff from the convenience store." The trickster looked up at Marui. "The dango enough for you, or do you still need lunch?"

"I'm good. Maybe later," answered the redhead.

Niou stood, closing the fridge. "Great. Let's go up to my room."

The reason he was here in the first place slammed into Marui with the force of a well-aimed punch. He slumped, dragging his feet in Niou's wake. "Do we really have to do math?" he asked, trying very hard not to whine.

"Yes we do, princess." The trickster was smirking again as he retrieved his bag and climbed the stairs. "I still can't believe you can't do algebra and yet have the audacity to call yourself a genius."

"I'm a genius in everything _else_," protested Marui. "Everyone has a weakness, don't they? Mine just happens to be math."

"Yeah, but math is, like, the fundamental capability of a genius. A genius who can't do math is a paradox. You shouldn't even exist," Niou declared. "Or, we could just drop the genius title and everything will be just peachy."

Marui bristled. "Hey, even Einstein got kicked out of school when he was a kid. Math and I just don't agree, like how Einstein and school didn't agree!"

"Yeah, yeah, of course," said Niou placatingly. He opened the door right at the end of the short corridor at the top of the stairs. "Here's my room. It's a bit messy, but just dump your stuff somewhere."

Marui stepped into Niou's room, argument temporarily forgotten. _This_ was what he had in mind when thinking of a place Niou might live in. The room did not have much furniture, but somehow managed to be cluttered anyway. At one side was the bed, still unmade. Above the bed was a window with slatted blinds. Untidy stacks of paper and a table lamp stood on the desk opposite the door. A separate, smaller table bore a desktop computer. Cupboards, one door hanging open, lined the last wall. The floor was littered with clothes and manga magazines. Posters covered the walls. Another door led off the room, presumably to the bathroom.

Niou dropped his bag in an empty space near the desk and dragged the swivel chair over from where it stood at the computer table. He hissed. "Damn, we need another chair. I'll go get one."

With that, Marui was left alone in the room. He looked around at the posters on the walls. Some were anime, some were singers and bands, and one was – surprise, surprise – of the Rikkaidai tennis team. His attention piqued, the redhead picked his way across the room to have a closer look.

It was an old poster, from their middle school days. Marui smiled. There he was, sitting on the ground and blowing an apple green bubble. Akaya sprawled on the ground next to him, grinning at the camera. Jackal was sitting on the bench behind them, looking as stoic as he always did in photos. There was Yukimura, in the middle of the team, serene as ever. Next to their buchou was Yanagi, a tiny smile on his face. Sanada, his cap pulled low, was standing behind the data master. And lastly was the Doubles One pair, Yagyuu with his spectacles glinting in the camera flash, standing perfectly straight next to their fukubuchou, and Niou slouching casually with an elbow on his partner's shoulder.

Marui ignored the treacherous squeeze he felt looking at his now-boyfriend's effortless bad-boy cool of three years ago. _Not going there_, he told himself firmly. With an effort, he turned away, his gaze falling to the desk. There was a photo in a frame standing in an island among the sea of papers. Picking it up, he saw four figures, presumably the Niou family. However, it wasn't in the usual stiff and formal family portrait style.

The photo had been taken at a beach, and in the foreground was a girl in her tweens wearing a swimsuit tripping over what looked like a rock in the sand. Her arms were thrown out as she fell towards the camera and her eyes were wide open in surprise. This was obviously a younger version of Niou's sister, and in this picture Marui could see that her eyes were the exact same shape and shade of sea-green as her brother's. Just out of her reach was a little boy in boardshorts running away from his sister and laughing over his shoulder. Clearly Masako had been chasing her brother for reasons unknown. Behind the children were two adults, the woman frozen in the middle of an exclamation as she stretched her hands to catch her daughter, while the man laughed in the background.

The image of Niou's ironic smile appeared in his mind's eye as Marui looked at the laughing boy in the photo. _Well, his family situation is obviously screwed up, so he's got every right to be less happy now than he was then._

A loud bang brought him back to his senses. Looking around, the redhead saw that Niou had returned and had apparently just deposited an extra chair. It was one of the wooden chairs from the dining table downstairs.

Glancing at the picture in Marui's hands, Niou's mouth twitched into a crooked smile. "Nice to see you've kept yourself occupied while I was gone."

Marui cast about for something to say. "Eh… how old were you when this was taken?"

"I was six and my sister was eleven." The trickster dropped into the wooden chair. "That was our last holiday as a family."

Feeling obligated, the redhead sank into the swivel chair, replacing the picture with care. He debated for a moment on whether or not to probe deeper. In the end, though, something about Niou's closed expression made him decide against it. "… You look like you were having fun," he said at last.

"I was," replied Niou stiffly. "Now, let's get on with that math."

_~ThursdayAfternoonMarui~_

"So, to find the nature of the turning point of the curve, we find the second derivative. To do that, we differentiate the first derivative," explained Niou.

Marui stared blankly at him. "Huh?"

His boyfriend sighed. "Okay. We take the equation for a curve. We differentiate it once to get the gradient. Right?"

"No," disagreed the redhead. "We differentiate it and get another equation, don't we?"

"Yeah, but that equation is the equation by which we find the gradient. Like, if you want to find the gradient when _x_ equals to five, we substitute _x_ equals to five into the differentiated equation," said Niou patiently. When Marui nodded slowly, the trickster continued. "We call the differentiated equation the first derivative. Now, at the turning point of the curve, the gradient will be zero. So all we need to do to find the turning point is equate the first derivative to zero."

Marui's head was spinning. "Why do we need to find the turning point?"

"Because the question wants us to," replied Niou. The patient tone was still there, but the redhead could tell it wouldn't be there for very much longer. They had been at this for an hour already, with the trickster teaching him how to differentiate after making the shocking discovery that Marui didn't even know _how_ to differentiate in the first place, let alone solve calculus problems.

"So all I need to do is to make this equal to zero?" asked Marui, pointing at the differentiated equation.

"No, you also need to find out what kind of turning point it is," answered his boyfriend. "The question wants both the turning point _and_ the nature of the turning point."

The redhead frowned. "But when you turn, you turn. How can there be different types of turning on a graph? All the curves go from left to right, don't they?"

"Not always," said Niou. "If you have an equation where _x_ is in terms of _y_, then it might go from right to left." Marui stared at him in complete bafflement, and Niou facepalmed. "Never mind. There are three different turning points – minimum, maximum and point of inflexion. The minimum –"

"Point of _what_?" Marui interrupted. "Infection? How did the graph get infected?"

"_Inflexion_, not infection," corrected the trickster. "As I was saying, the minimum point is the one where the graph goes down and then goes up again. The maximum point is where the graph goes up and then goes down again. The point of inflexion is when the graph goes down and then down again, or up and then up again."

"What the hell is that? That's not a turn," objected the redhead.

Niou quickly sketched a _x_ cubed graph. "Yes it is. Like, _this_ is a point of inflexion. But we don't usually have to worry about them, only the minimum and maximum points. So, like I said, to find the nature of the point – whether it's minimum or maximum – we have to differentiate the first derivative and get the second derivative. Then we substitute the _x_ value of the point into this second derivative. If the resulting value of the second derivative is above zero, the point is minimum. If it is less than zero, the point is maximum."

Marui considered this for several seconds. At last he shook his head. "I still don't see how the point of inflexion is a turning point."

Niou groaned loudly and slumped onto the table. "Oh god, I give up. You're hopeless. Hopeless!"

"I'm trying," protested the redhead. Niou opened one sardonic eye. "Really, I am! It's just that all this calculus is so… complicated. And what use does it have anyway? When would I ever need to differentiate the price of a can of Coke?"

His boyfriend heaved another sigh. "They use it for architecture, engineering and all that stuff. Why does what you study have to have a use? If that's the problem you have with math, we might as well say the same of literature. When would I ever have to analyze a news report on a natural disaster for characterization?"

"But literature is about _life_," Marui argued. "All the quirks of human life, in black and white type. If you can do literature, you'll be a much more cultured person!"

"As if," snorted Niou. "If you're an example of a cultured person, the world has come to a very sad state indeed."

"Creep," muttered the redhead, sulking.

"Spazz," countered his boyfriend.

There was a pause. Then, "I'm hungry," announced Marui. "And bored stiff."

"I was right – you think on your stomach," Niou quipped. "I guess we _do_ need a break, though. Let's go get something to eat."

Marui followed his boyfriend out of the room and down the stairs. "Hang on. You can _cook_?"

"How do you think I live without any women around?" The trickster raised an eyebrow at him as they entered the kitchen.

"Good point." The redhead peered into the fridge. "What are you going to make?"

"What do you want to eat?" asked Niou. "There's no ice-cream or cake, in case you were going to ask."

Marui pouted. "Damn."

"I don't like sweets much," his boyfriend kindly informed him.

"Fine then, pick whatever. As long as it's edible. I'm so hungry I could eat a hippo," said the redhead, plumping himself onto the floor. "Math seems to help me work up an appetite."

"That's just because you're thinking of everything _but_ math while doing math," said the trickster severely. "I'm going to make sandwiches, because I feel like eating sandwiches. That okay?"

"Sure." Watching his boyfriend extract several items from the fridge and kitchen cupboard, Marui commented, "It's really funny how you're so much like a mom."

Niou winced. "Please, anything but that. The worst thing to compare a guy with is a mom."

"But you cook," persisted the redhead. "And I bet you can clean. And moms teach their kids math. I know my mom tried."

"Tried," repeated his boyfriend. "The number of grey hairs on her head must've increased exponentially in the attempt. I can feel my life expectancy decreasing the longer I try to teach you math."

"Well, _you_ certainly won't get any grey hair," remarked Marui. "It's already silver."

"I dyed it, in case you thought I went white prematurely," Niou said loftily.

"I didn't." There was a pause, in which Marui observed his host concentrate on putting together the sandwiches. After several moments of silence, he spoke again. "So, what's your favorite color?"

Niou twitched. "Random much?"

"Well, it's weird to just sit here and watch you act all mom-ish," defended the redhead.

"Will you shut it with the mom thing? I'll put natto in your sandwich," threatened his boyfriend.

Marui grimaced. He hated the horrible sticky natto. "Fine, I'll stop. So what _is_ your favorite color?"

"You are such a girl," grumbled Niou. "Asking girly questions like that. It's purple."

"I thought it was silver," said Marui, surprised. "I mean, you did your hair silver."

"Yeah, but the tie I use is purple, isn't it?" the trickster pointed out. "So, does that mean that your favorite color is pink, since you did your hair pink?"

"It's red!" Marui corrected, annoyed. "And yes, _red_ is my favorite color."

"Yeah, well, it's only a shade away from pink," said Niou airily.

"Maybe, but purple is the international gay color," countered the redhead.

"I _am_ gay, so it's alright," his boyfriend reminded him. "I'm done with the sandwiches. Hope you like cheese."

"Are you kidding? I _live_ to eat cheese," declared Marui, as they headed for the dining table.

"I thought you lived for sugar," Niou said, setting down what looked like an explosion on a plate.

"Well, sugar and cheese," conceded the redhead, staring at the plate. "What did you _do_? It sure doesn't look like a sandwich to me."

"It's like those sandwiches you get in fancy restaurants where they just put the bread and pile stuff on top without a second piece on top," said Niou haughtily.

Marui choked back a laugh. "I thought you said you could cook."

"There's bread in there somewhere," insisted the trickster. "And it's definitely edible."

Losing the battle to keep a straight face, Marui laughed outright. "You_ fail_, Niou."

"Don't eat if you don't want to," muttered his boyfriend, chagrined.

Still chuckling weakly, the redhead reached for the mound of food. "Nah, I'm really hungry. I'll give it a try."

After a little experimentation, Marui found a way to eat without dropping too much of the toppings. They munched in comfortable silence for a while. Then, suddenly, Niou asked, "Aren't you going to ask about my family?"

Marui blinked at his boyfriend. "Well, it didn't look like something I should ask about, so… no? Your dad doesn't look like he ever wore a bra in his life, though."

"Huh? What bra?" Niou looked confused for a second, before his eyes widened in realization. "Oh, right. That. I told you it was a lie, didn't I?"

"So you did." The redhead shrugged, feigning nonchalance. _Why is he bringing it up? It's obviously a touchy subject. What's he trying to do?_ "Well, what about your family?"

Niou watched him for several seconds, then let out a windy sigh. "It's nothing."

They fell back into silence, though it was nowhere near as comfortable as before.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Night__: Niou_

Niou was flat on his bed, having just finally, completely, and officially given up on Marui's calculus for the third time. Marui, meanwhile, was sitting backwards on the swivel chair and staring intensely at the math questions as if he wanted to burn holes into the paper in front of him. Watching the redhead, Niou wondered. _I never would have thought he'd be… sensitive. Maybe… he'll listen. And understand. And I won't have to keep worrying about when he'll ask._

"Hey, Marui."

"Yeah?" His boyfriend didn't look up.

The trickster bit his lip, then took the plunge. "I'm scared of relationships."

Marui whirled around in the swivel chair. "Say _what_?"

"Honest. My family is full of screwy relationships." _Oh god, I was right; it was a stupid idea,_ thought Niou wildly as his mouth babbled on. _He'll probably just get scared and back out of this whole boyfriend gig. I can't blame him, either. _"My parents divorced; they'd been rocky for a year or so before that. My sister got knocked up by her first boyfriend and had to go for an abortion. She kept waking up screaming at night for, I dunno, a month."

"Niou…" The redhead's voice trailed off, as though he had no idea what to say.

"She's dating the doctor now," said Niou, laughing sharply. "She seems happy with him, but she seemed happy with the other guy too. I can't help wondering if she'll come home crying again."

His boyfriend came over and sat down next to him on the edge of the bed, but the trickster turned his face away, closing his eyes. He did not want to see the pity or revulsion that was sure to be on Marui's face. _I know I'm pathetic. Scared to be close to people… why am I telling him my weakness? Why do I want him to know? Why do I want him to… understand?_

"Those guys betrayed them. There's nothing to say that someone won't betray _me_. I'm scared to get so close to someone that I'll hurt really badly when they leave." He chuckled bitterly. "I don't know why I'm even telling you all this. You're probably thinking that my family is completely fucked up. Sorry, hey. Loading you with all my problems like this."

"It's okay," blurted Marui. Niou opened his eyes, staring out of the window at the rapidly darkening sky. "Your family is fucked up, I guess, but you're okay, aren't you? You haven't let yourself get fucked up. That's why you never dated, right? That's why you're saying you're gay?"

"I _am_ gay," corrected the trickster. "But yes, that's why I never dated. I don't want to dump someone or be dumped by someone. Nobody gains, do they?"

"So why did you ask me to date you?" inquired his boyfriend.

"I don't know," lied Niou. _I can't tell you that I needed someone to take my mind off Yagyuu!_ "Maybe because I wanted to try it out at least once. But it's okay, because dating you is safe. We both know it'll be over after a week."

"Oh." Marui paused. "Right."

They were quiet for a moment. Niou found that he felt simultaneously relieved that he had finally managed to _tell_ someone his big secret and anxious at how his boyfriend would receive the information. _But I think I really needed to say all that. I never told anyone… it just stayed inside and fermented. It won't hurt me if he _does_ leave, because I never expected him to stay._ Telling himself this, he bit the inside of his cheek and waited for Marui to say something.

"Thanks," said his boyfriend at last. "For trusting me enough to tell me."

Surprised, Niou twisted his head so fast he got a crick in his neck. Massaging it, he stared at the redhead. "You're not… I dunno, disgusted that I'm such a pathetic idiot?"

"Why should I be? You have every right to feel that way." Violet eyes turned on him; they were accepting. "A week is a week. I'm not going anywhere, and you're not going to be chasing me out with just a sob story like that."

There was another pause. Then, "So what's _your_ family like?" asked Niou.

"Normal, I guess." Marui flopped backwards onto the bed, so that his back was on Niou's legs. The touch was somehow comforting. "Parents, two younger brothers. I'm the eldest, so I'm supposed to look after them, but they're little brats really. Like Akaya."

"You don't really seem like an eldest sibling," commented the trickster. "You don't have that… responsible feeling, you know what I mean?"

"Hey, I resent that," protested the redhead.

Niou laughed. Something tight inside him seemed to have unraveled; the tension he had felt since Marui had stepped into his house was gone. He didn't need to hide anymore, didn't have to worry. Perhaps he had known, subconsciously, that he needed someone to understand, that he could trust the redhead with this secret, and hence invited him over. Bending his legs sharply, he forced Marui to sit up. "Okay, then, playtime's over. Let's get back to that math."

"Good to see you're feeling better already. So nice to be appreciated," grumbled the redhead. "You're welcome, for what it's worth."

_Right, I haven't thanked him. _Reaching out, he grabbed Marui's shoulder and pulled him back just as he was about to stand up. As his boyfriend fell backwards onto him, he turned the redhead's face towards himself and connected their lips in a warm kiss. Pulling away, he whispered. "Thanks."

Violet eyes narrowed slightly. "That's all?" The next moment, Niou found himself yanked roughly into a much harsher kiss, their tongues clashing, and he was fairly sure the sharp pain in his lips was due to the use of teeth. In response, he wrapped his arms tight around his boyfriend and crushed them even closer. Only when the need for air became too pressing did they finally pull apart.

The trickster blinked away floating spots from his vision, put there by oxygen deprivation. "Hell, Marui, you are _demanding_."

"And _you_ are a sad fuck who managed to forget all the lessons I've given you in less than a day of not practicing," Marui retorted. He was still panting slightly, and there was an odd light in his eyes. "For listening to your sob story, you should let me off math for the rest of the day."

"But we haven't even started on trigonometric calculus," objected Niou. "Buchou told me during lunch to cover the whole of calculus with you."

"Screw buchou. I'm bored with math, you've just depressed me with your screwed-up life story, and there's always later," declared his boyfriend. "It's only seven p.m.! Don't tell me you don't have any gaming consoles around, because I won't believe you."

"Okay, okay. Let's go and have some good old shoot-up action," said the trickster, relenting. "I have Halo 3, do you play?"

"You're talking to a guy with two brothers. Of _course_ I play," scoffed Marui.

_~ThursdayNightNiou~_

By the time they finished thrashing their virtual opponents to their satisfaction, it was close to midnight and Marui had called home to tell his parents he was staying the night.

"We're really turning into girls," remarked Niou as he checked his email, the both of them having returned to his room after the usual pre-bedtime chores.

Marui yawned from where he was curled up on the bed like an overgrown cat. "Why'd you say that?"

"You're borrowing my clothes, staying over, and if I'm not much mistaken we just had a wonderful heart-to-heart talk." The trickster grimaced. "God, I'm embarrassed with myself."

"Aww, the poor widdle Haru-chan is all embarrassed," drawled the redhead. "C'mere and I'll give you a hug and a kiss and everything will be right with the world again."

Niou threw a pen at his boyfriend. "Shut up, will you?"

Catching the pen with ease, Marui twirled it between his fingers. "Sure, dear Haru-chan."

"Since when did I say you could call me Haru?" demanded the trickster.

Marui was wearing a particularly shit-eating grin. "Since you more or less broke down in front of me."

"I hate you," muttered Niou. "If you spread it around I shall… do something drastic."

"Like what? Screw me on the spot?" suggested his boyfriend, his grin stretching even wider.

"No; I'll rig cameras in your room and record a video of you masturbating and upload it on the Internet," replied the trickster. "That way I won't be involved."

The grin on Marui's face vanished faster than a meatball down a hungry Kirihara's gullet. For those who don't know, that's _really_ fast. "You _wouldn't_."

"Try me," Niou challenged.

Marui subsided, looking vaguely troubled. Niou ignored it. _He's probably just shocked at the level I would stoop to for the sake of keeping a secret._

Suddenly, he remembered the other reason he had invited Marui over for. "Marui?"

"Don't start with another heart-wrenching confession," warned the redhead. "I don't feel like listening right now."

"No, I just remembered. Why were you so weird this morning?" asked the trickster.

Marui twitched, his eyes widening. "What are you talking about?"

"You wouldn't look at me the whole of morning practice," Niou reminded him. "And then you took forever to answer my text message."

"Hey, I actually pay attention in class sometimes, you know," said his boyfriend, visibly upset. "I just didn't notice your message. And, I dunno, maybe you just never saw me looking at you. Like those stupid things when we keep trying to catch each other's eye and keep missing."

Niou snorted. "Gosh, Marui, if you're gonna try to come up with excuses, come up with something better."

"I can't come up with something better because that's the goddamn _truth_, you bastard!" Marui was glaring at him with unexpected intensity. "I don't go around spewing lies free and easy, unlike a certain _somebody_."

_This doesn't seem quite right,_ thought the trickster, frowning. _Sure, he's fiery, but he doesn't get pissed about such minute details. At least, I didn't _think_ he did. Should I ask more? _But it was already late, and they had morning practice the next day. Niou decided to put the issue aside for the moment. "Okay, cool it, Marui. I believe you, okay?"

Marui huffed. "You'd better."

They were quiet for a while, Niou working on some homework due the next day while Marui, on the bed, stared at the ceiling with half-lidded eyes, his arms around a pillow. Only when he was yawning widely enough to crack his jaw did the trickster stand up.

Glancing at the bed, he saw his boyfriend's eyes closed peacefully, breathing in the regular rhythm of sleep. _Agh, I'm an idiot. I should've brought in a futon earlier for him. I don't like to wake him up now… I'll sleep on the futon._ Leaving the room, he went to the room his mother usually occupied. She preferred sleeping on futons, claiming that longevity was due to such traditional Japanese practices. Pulling a conveniently rolled-up futon bundle out of the sliding-door cupboard in her room, Niou returned to his own room.

After clearing up the clutter on the floor (most of it was just thrown into the cupboard), the trickster spread out the futon and rolled himself up in the blankets. The strangeness of having someone else in the room kept him awake for a while, but once he got accustomed to the soft sounds of Marui's breathing, he fell asleep in moments.

The last thing he though before sleep claimed him was, _When all's said and done, I'm glad I asked him over._

He never thought that when he woke up, that sentiment would be very, very different.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

**A/N: Oh god. I am SO unhappy with this chapter. It's unnecessarily long (twenty fricking pages! O.O). And there wasn't nearly enough HaruMaru fluffy goodness as I wanted. And the characters feel majorly OOC. I blame Kid-chan not only because I was trying to write the How To Guide with her, but also because I'm writing a LOL Heroes romance/angst fic for her and somehow the angst spilled over here. Bah. T.T**

**I think I've just totally destroyed Niou's character. DIE. –rips at hair– what've I **_**done**_**? But I needed them to bond more personally, and my poor dried-up brain could only come up with this. –sob– I am pathetic, I know… but really, don't you think a Niou with a weak spot isn't all that bad? No? –ducks rotten tomatoes– Okay, sorry! I'm sorry! DX**

**The only good thing is, I actually managed to finish and upload this before Christmas, as I promised in the previous chapter. Every cloud has a silver lining, I guess. :-X Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in advance to all of you who have stuck with me till this point =)**

**The next chapter – I shall warn you here – is going to have a little citrus, and a lot of angst. In fact you may expect the entire chapter to be angst. Thus the little cliffie-ish ending up there. And I also expect it to be a very difficult chapter to write. A disappointing round of reviews for this chapter, and I'll just not write it. Not worth wasting the time and effort. –more tyrannical demanding for reviews– In any case, when and if I do write the next chapter, it should take a fair length of time, so at the earliest we're probably looking at a fortnight till it's up. :-X So naturally it's up to y'all to give me wonderful inspiring reviews so that I'll write like a maniac, right? –points at the review button– Please ****review****, dearies!**

**And now for a bit of advertising. Everyone, please, have a look at this anime called ****The Legend of the Legendary Heroes**** (LOL Heroes, Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu, DenYuuDen being its alternative names). Its name is laughable, I know, but I am not exaggerating when I say it is on a level with Code Geass (which I think is the best anime ever) in terms of overall awesomeness. This is, in my opinion, the best fantasy anime ever. Its plot and characters are complex and intricately constructed, its seiyuu are some of the best ever, its art is honestly **_**gorgeous**_**, and it is wonderfully slashable though not outright BL (the whole 'for my best friend' kind of thing, which is so easy to twist into a yaoi fangirl's fantasy XP Plus the guys are really hot! =D There are female characters with important roles of course but the two main guys just belong together, in my opinion ^^). Unfortunately, despite its awesomeness, LOL Heroes is seriously underrated, and I believe this is due to a lack of publicity. So I thought I should do what I could to help raise awareness of the existence of this jewel of an anime – which is why I am taking advantage of this little space I have on the Internet to advertise. =D It helps that with more people watching the series, they might produce a second season, which is definitely necessary since the end of this first season was such a blatant cliffie. DX Also, as I mentioned at the start of this A/N (I'm sure you've forgotten by now O.o) I'm writing for the LOL Heroes fandom, and it'd be great if I had old readers from this fandom who could have a look at the stuff I'm producing for LOL Heroes. =D**

**That being said, I apologize yet again for the very long A/N (I swear it's growing by the chapter O.o), implore you to watch LOL Heroes, and remind you once more to ****review**** so that the next chapter will be up before the year ends! ^^**


	5. Friday

**Friday**

_Morning__: Marui_

_Where am I?_ was the first coherent thought that formed in Marui's sleepy brain when he woke up. The ceiling was unfamiliar, the bed didn't feel quite right, the orientation of the room was weird, and he could hear the sound of someone else – _oh. Right. Niou. I'm in Niou's house. I'm sleeping in Niou's bed. Holy crap this is bad – !_

Panicked, he flung out an arm across the bed, but there was no one there. Relief washed over him like a calming bath. _Okay, so at least we're not in the _same_ bed… How could I have fallen asleep like that? I was waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing and tell me to go to the next room or something… I'm surprised he didn't kick me awake._

He lay there for several seconds, waiting for some energy before he considered moving. After a moment, he realized that Niou was muttering under his breath. _Heh, who would've thought that Niou talked in his sleep?_ Another thought insinuated his mind – _I wonder what he looks like when he's asleep…_

Rolling over, he looked down at his boyfriend on the futon below. A blush quickly rose in his cheeks – Niou's upper body was exposed by the covers, and his boyfriend clearly didn't sleep in pajamas. Worse – or better? – there was an obvious tent in the sheets. _What the fuck, he's having one of _those_ dreams?_ Marui felt a strange, hot thrill as he stared as the sleeping trickster. _Should I wake him up and tease him about it?_ he wondered. _Or maybe…_

As if in a dream, he found himself sliding off the bed and onto the futon next to his boyfriend. Niou shifted, and Marui froze, hoping he had not woken the trickster. However, Niou only murmured something unintelligible; his eyes were firmly shut though his eyebrows knitted in a frown.

Marui hesitatingly touched Niou's leg, but his boyfriend did not react. Heartened, the redhead slowly tugged the blanket away. As he did so, he discovered that the trickster slept in his underwear and nothing else. _Hah… what was I expecting? Pink-rabbit PJs?_

Shameful fascination gripped him as he stared wide-eyed at his boyfriend's erection. _I shouldn't be doing this… I shouldn't… why am I doing this? It's wrong… but it feels good…_ The functioning part of his conscience prodded him, telling him to stop, to cover the trickster up again and pretend that nothing had ever happened, to ignore the heat rising in his own body. The other, uncontrolled, treacherous part of his mind recalled the images of his fantasy – Niou's tongue on his member, Niou's lust-shadowed eyes, and the mind-blowing ecstasy he had given. _What if…_

He found himself gripping Niou's thighs, pushing them to each side and kneeling between them. _What are you doing? _a part of him screamed. _You're crazy! What if he wakes up? How are you going to explain?_

_I'm his boyfriend_, the other part of him answered stubbornly. _Why can't I give my boyfriend a blowjob?_ Distantly, Marui realized that his hands were hooked into the waistband of Niou's boxers. _There's only a couple of days left… I… I want…_ Before his nerve could fail, he took a deep breath and pulled the boxers down.

He had seen Niou naked before, but bumping into each other in the showers at tennis was very different from… whatever he was doing now. The room suddenly seemed stiflingly hot. With a shaking hand, he gripped Niou's manhood. It was hot in the palm of his hand. At his touch, Niou moved on the futon, muttering, and Marui jerked backwards, half-formed excuses rising in his throat, but his boyfriend subsided, his hands twisting into the sheets.

Marui breathed deeply, his heartbeat racing. _God, that was scary…_ His lips firmed. _No more playing around! If I'm going to do this, I'd better get on with it!_ He looked again at his boyfriend's exposed length, and felt a guilty thrill in his spine. _I already got this far…_

Once again, he knelt in the same position as before, leaning down to bring it into his mouth. As he bent close, his mind babbled, _Oh my god it's bigger than I thought how am I gonna get it all in? _But he remembered the image of Niou swallowing him to the hilt, and clenched his eyes shut. Surely it was possible. Feeling like a person going over the edge in a bungee jump, he slid the erect member into his mouth.

It tasted weird – bitter, salty and sour all at the same time. The tip touched the back of his throat, and he fought the urge to gag. Under him, Niou trembled and shifted, his head rolling backwards as he let out a low moan. It was too late to worry if the trickster had woken up; Marui tightened his hold on his boyfriend's thighs and slid his tongue along the rough skin of the length. Niou jerked, tossing his head in a gasp. For some reason, this encouraged him, and he dragged his teeth all the way up to the flap. This made Niou's hands clench into fists, gasping again, louder this time. "No – _Yagyuu_ - !"

_Yagyuu._

The member slipped out of Marui's mouth with a wet, popping sound. He felt as though he was being crushed from all sides by an unseen pressure. Something fragile inside him cracked, then shattered into pieces.

_He's dreaming of Yagyuu._

_Not me._

The heat in his body vanished as though it had never been. Looking at Niou now, he felt no arousal, only a sharp, stabbing pain. He didn't know whether it was anger, or betrayal. He only knew he needed to leave this house, at once, before he broke outwardly the way he already had inwardly.

Quickly, he gathered his belongings – how had they gotten so scattered in one night? – and packed them into his bag. He divested himself of the clothes he had borrowed and put on his own unwashed garments. As he opened the door, he heard Niou's voice. "… Marui?"

The trickster had finally woken up. The redhead squeezed his eyes shut, suppressing the tears – of rage? of pain? – that welled up. "Cheating, fucking _bastard_," he flung over his shoulder, and slammed the door behind him.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Morning__: Niou_

In his dream, Yagyuu slowly undressed him, one piece of clothing at a time. By the time he was completely naked, Niou's body was on fire from his doubles partner's teasing touches. Without warning, Yagyuu abandoned his attentions to the trickster's neck and lips to bend his head over Niou's hips. Before he could say anything, his arousal was engulfed in hot ecstasy.

A faraway part of his mind realized that this was a dream, but he couldn't care less. He clung harder than ever to the fantasy even as he began to slide back into reality. Yagyuu was doing things with his mouth that made Niou writhe and moan. "No – _Yagyuu_ - !" The words slipped out of his mouth, as though protesting would help him stay in the dream for just a little longer.

Suddenly the wonderful heat was gone. Niou stayed where he was, unmoving, in the vague hope that by doing so he would return to his dream. Several moments passed, in which he slowly realized that he _was_ naked, though this was reality, and he could hear someone moving around the room quietly. _Oh yeah, Marui was here…_ Reluctantly, very reluctantly, he cracked one eyelid.

The redhead was in his clothes from yesterday. He was carrying his bag and was about to open the door. Niou's eyes opened fully. _Wait, he's leaving already? Why? He could wait for me and then we can go for tennis together – _"… Marui?" he ventured, trying to sit up.

His boyfriend paused in the doorway, but didn't turn around. His shoulders were unusually tense. "Cheating, fucking _bastard_," he spat, and slammed the door behind him.

_What the shit?_ The trickster struggled to his feet, opening the door to call Marui back. "Wait, Marui!"

The only reply was the crash of the front door. He thought he might have heard a sob.

_Ooooh hell something's really, _really_ wrong here._ He looked down at himself, at the pulsing erection that somehow seemed incriminating. Frowning, he touched the stickiness on himself. It didn't feel like the usual pre-come. _Don't tell me… Marui tried to blow me?_

It was entirely possible. Why else would Marui have decided to leave immediately upon hearing Niou let Yagyuu's name slip? Why else would his underwear have been pulled down? Why else would his boyfriend be so upset with him? The redhead had so kindly tried to help him with his little problem, and he'd gone and told him that Yagyuu was the one he had been fantasizing about when Marui was his boyfriend.

_This is totally fucked up…_

_~FridayMorningNiou~_

Why, though had Marui even considered giving him head? Niou turned the issue over in his mind as he left the house to go for tennis. They both knew their little dating arrangement was only for a week. Wasn't it? The trickster racked his brains, trying to recall exactly what had been said that Monday morning. Yes, they had definitely been talking about Marui's one-week system. Naturally he was the latest participant in that. But what else had he said?

"_A week's long enough to find out if I really like her… Whoever asks me first that week, I will date. If I'm not interested after the first week, I move on. That's all there is to it."_

Niou chewed absently on a hangnail as he walked. _He actually likes me? Nah, can't be. He's always going on about how he's not gay and he's just in this because I forced him to. But if he didn't like me, why would he even think of giving me a blowjob? It's not exactly something you'd do just to tease someone. And he got so angry when I thought he was Yagyuu… jealousy? Still, I can't see him actually liking me… at this point we're more like friends who kiss for fun…_

"You're early," commented Yukimura when he reached the courts. "How rare."

The trickster shrugged. "Hey, there's a first time for everything."

Chuckling, the blunette gave him a knowing look. "Indeed there is."

That look was oddly disconcerting. "Buchou, what –"

"Hurry up, Niou. We'll practice extra hard today to make up for yesterday," said Yukimura, sailing out of the changing rooms.

Marui came in a lot later than usual, and was assigned extra laps by a displeased Sanada. Yukimura didn't comment, only watched with an unusually sharp gaze. It did not escape Niou's notice that the redhead was ignoring him completely, not even meeting his eyes, and that Yagyuu was also receiving the same treatment.

"Is there something wrong with Marui-kun?" inquired his doubles partner, as they warmed up for the morning's round of training.

Niou put on his most nonchalant face. "I have no idea."

"He seems to be upset with us for something," Yagyuu remarked. "I wonder what we might have done. Perhaps the math tuition yesterday went badly?"

"… You could say that," muttered the trickster.

"Ah. I see." Yagyuu did not pursue the matter, for which Niou was secretly relieved.

In the end, the two of them were ignored by Marui for the whole of the morning practice. Niou felt distinctly uncomfortable whenever he happened to cross the redhead's field of vision and those blank purple eyes that stared through him as though he did not even exist., but he had no idea what to do about it, so did nothing.

On the other hand, he could feel Yukimura's eyes watching him like those of a hawk throughout the practice. _Maybe he guessed that something's wrong?_ This too he ignored, but in this case it was because he couldn't care less if they were found out.

Later, in the changing rooms, there was a cold, almost tangible wall of silence between him and Marui. Yagyuu's gaze rested on him, puzzled, but he did not return the look. Inside, he was undergoing a fierce debate. _I should try to talk to him… but what can I say? Sorry, I actually have a crush on Yagyuu and wanted to date you as a distraction? That'd only make things worse. Or, hey, you're surprisingly good at sucking people off, you know? Yeah, that'd be a _great_ conversation starter…_

In the end, they went off to class without exchanging a single word.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Afternoon__: Marui_

_I _hate_ that bastard!_ thought Marui fiercely, fists clenching. The seniors were in the middle of changing classrooms, and he had just walked past Niou. The trickster hadn't been doing anything particularly irritating – just walking with his hands in his pockets, not talking to anyone – but the very sight of him made the memory of that morning return at full strength.

_I should've guessed that he likes Yagyuu,_ was his glum thought as they entered the classroom they used for English. _That's what I thought at the beginning, didn't I? That the only person he might ever have a crush on would be Yagyuu. He just cut me off before I could finish asking and I forgot all about it._

He slumped onto his table, Jackal beside him as usual, and fixed dull eyes on the board in front. English wasn't something he really needed to pay attention to; if the teacher called on him, he could always count on Jackal to help him out. _There were so many hints, too… like he said his favorite color is purple, and whose hair is purple? Yagyuu's. And the way he's always hanging around Yagyuu… well, until this week, anyway. I'm an idiot for not noticing. And I'm a fool to think I could get him to like me._

The thought made his eyes widen. _Wait, I want him to like me? Do I like him?_ Memories welled up, the guilty fantasy in the bathroom a couple of night ago, the shameful fascination with Niou's naked, aroused body. _Crap, I think I like him. At least, I can't stop thinking of him… his touch, his kisses, his _voice_… fuck what is wrong with me?_ Agitated, Marui gripped handfuls of his hair. _I'm getting hot just thinking of him, when I was so positive I wasn't gay… I'm so _pathetic_. I don't want him to be thinking of Yagyuu when I'm with him… _ An image of Yagyuu and Niou, naked and entwined with each other, floated in his mind's eye, and he cringed. _No! I don't want that… I want him to hold _me_… _

"Marui-kun, are you okay? You look like you're coming down with something." Opening his eyes, Marui saw the English teacher's concerned face. She was rather partial towards him because he was good at the subject. "You're all red – do you have a fever? Maybe you should go to the nurse's office?"

_Shit – !_ Quickly, he sat up straight. "No, sensei, I'm perfectly fine," he reassured her.

"Are you sure?" She did not look convinced; reaching out, she put a hand on his forehead. "You're very warm… I really think the nurse's –"

"No, no, I'm really okay," Marui said as confidently as he could. _Fuck this is so embarrassing! I'm getting aroused just _thinking_ about him… I don't think I should try walking, they might notice…_ "Really, sensei," he repeated, giving her his best smile.

"Well, if you say so…" Still looking rather worried, she turned back to the textbook. "Now, for the eighth blank on page hundred and sixty-seven –"

The redhead tuned out of the lesson again, settling even deeper into melancholy. _Why did I even go and do something like that to him? There's no way I can explain it away – we didn't have any alcohol or drugs. He must think I'm some sick pervert who tries to suck off unsuspecting sleeping people. And why would I like him? He makes fun of me, he's a _guy_, and we were just… playing around, I guess. Hey, wanna date me for a week? Yeah, okay, sounds like fun! Yay. Happy. And then bam, I start liking him for no reason at all. He's not sweet and cuddly like the girls… but I have to say he's hot. I really like it when he kisses me… was I bi all the time and just never realized?_

_Huh. Whatever. Problem here is that I'm having a major crush on Niou Masaharu, who happens to be a guy. I don't care if that makes me gay, bi or just plain confused. The thing now is, what do I do about it? Do I tell him that I like him? But he likes Yagyuu… wait, but doesn't Yagyuu have a girlfriend? I always see him eating lunch with the same girl… _Marui frowned as his mind sped ahead to the logical conclusion. _Oh. Niou can't get together with Yagyuu because Yagyuu's already attached. I would have expected him to just shove the girl away… but well, maybe he's being sensitive to Yagyuu's feelings because he likes him. Then he feels all sad and needs a date to cheer him up and give him the kisses he can't get from Yagyuu. And that's how I come into the picture. Fuck him, fuck Yagyuu, and fuck the whole situation._

The redhead sighed, not realizing that Jackal, the teacher and other classmates nearby were casting curious glances at him. _I guess I was never supposed to like him. Not that_ I_ ever expected I would come to like him. I must like him, right, if I'm thinking of blowing him? So much for trying not to be homophobic. I took it a little too far… Now what do I do with this mess? Obviously he still likes Yagyuu, even if he doesn't want to confess to him… And I'm too embarrassed to ask him about it… _God_ I still can't believe I tried to suck him off… I must be really crazy – well, they say love makes fools of us all. Not that I'm in love, of course, but… I'm definitely a fool._

_Fool that I am, __I wish I could get him to like me in return._

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Afternoon__: Niou_

It was weird to sit next to Yagyuu, with the memory of his erotic dream still fresh in his mind. But it had been similar when he saw Yagyuu the first time after he realized his feelings for his doubles partner, so he could put the weirdness aside and focus on the rather more pressing problem of Marui.

_If I were him, I'd probably just abandon this whole farce,_ thought Niou. _Just because the agreement was for seven days doesn't mean he can't cut it off sooner if he wants to… why would he want to stay any longer with a guy who likes someone else? Though he was a really good distraction while he was around. I don't think I was thinking of Yagyuu at all whenever I was with Marui. I guess I'll miss him…_

That last thought was unexpected. He frowned. _No, why would I miss him? He'll still be a teammate. I can still see him. I just won't be able to kiss him._

_Why do I feel regret for that?_

He remembered the feel of Marui's lips on his, warm, teasing, playful. A treacherous voice in his mind whispered how much better it might be if they had been hot, desperate, passionate; his equally deceitful imagination produced images of what the redhead might have looked like that morning, crouched between his legs, cheeks flushed as he took Niou in his mouth. The trickster bit his lower lip hard, shaking his head as if to shake away the disturbingly erotic image. _No! I like Yagyuu… don't I?_ He tried to remember that morning's dream, but the sight of Yagyuu giving him head, so easily constructed before, now eluded him. In its place crowded more and more scenes of Marui, naked, begging for his touch, and so undeniably _hot_.

_Crap, I'm getting aroused!_ Extricating his water bottle, he gulped down the cool liquid, taking several deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself. At the same time, he conjured an image of their stern math teacher in a bikini – a vision guaranteed cool any arousal. Soon, the tightness in his pants receded.

Steeling himself, he pushed his mind to consider why he had become aroused in the first place. _No way, I can't be starting to like Marui. I told myself I wouldn't let it happen. I should have realized that something was happening if there _was_ anything happening at all… right? After Yagyuu… I _should _know if I'm starting to like someone._

He thought hard, trying to remember. _Okay, so I realized I liked Yagyuu when I saw him kissing that girl. If I saw Marui with a girl…?_ This image came easily – Marui holding a girl close, about to kiss her. The muscles in Niou's jaw tightened. _That just doesn't sit well with me… does that mean I like him? _He remembered Marui's arms around his neck as they kissed, and the odd welling of happy endorphins that accompanied the feeling. _I like it when he touches me. I like it when he kisses me. I like teasing him, talking to him, playing video games with him. Shit, I think I really _do_ like him. Screw it all, I wasn't supposed to let this kind of fucked up thing happen again!_

_I didn't _want_ to like him._ The thought surfaced, harsh, jarring. _I _don't_ want to like him. It'll just hurt… when the time is up. When the week is over. When we go back to being just teammates. To see him and not be able to touch him. Even if he likes me – _if_ – I don't want to fall into the same trap as my sister and mother. Just because things seem good doesn't mean they will always be good. If I really_ _like him and he stops liking me. I can't let this go further than it already has. It's already gone too far._

Niou growled softly, burying his face in his hands. _Hell, this is so goddamn fucked up. _I'm_ so goddamn fucked up. I wish I just knew how to… get out of this all._

_~FridayAfternoonNiou~_

The afternoon's practice was uneventful. The team went through another round of Yanagi's Training Menu from Hell, and Marui and Niou still determinedly avoided each other, but all in all nothing remarkable happened.

After practice, Niou was steeling himself to grab Marui and demand of him whether they were still supposed to be together. Before he could do so, however, the redhead shut his locker and hesitated. "I – I'm going home by myself," he muttered, not quite meeting Niou's eyes.

"Oh." The trickster bit his lip, wanting to say something but not quite sure of _what_ he should say. "Right. Okay."

Marui walked to the door, a little more stiffly than usual. Niou could feel the curious gazes of their teammates flicking from him to the redhead and back, but ignored them. It was none of their business, anyway.

On the way home, Niou gave himself a stern talking-to. _I'm _happy_ we're… well, I don't know if we're _over_ since it never really _started_. Alright, I'm glad we're not… together anymore. It wasn't supposed to happen, in the first place. It was a mistake on my part to ask him to date me, and I'll apologize properly for it when I see him at practice tomorrow. _The Rikkaidai team trained on Saturdays too, for half a day.

Despite his determination, though, the trickster couldn't shake the feeling of encroaching loneliness that accompanied the thought of pushing Marui away once and for all.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Evening__: Marui_

"I'm home," he called upon entering his house.

"Welcome back, idiot brother of ours," warbled one of his younger brothers, Seita, from where the twins were wearing out their thumbs at the PlayStation console.

"Idiot brother came home alone," remarked his twin, Keita. "And early. I bet he's been dumped."

"Shut up, you little monkeys!" yelled the redhead, heading to his room.He thought wistfully of storybook younger siblings who called their idolized older brother a respectful 'Onii-san' or, even better, 'Aniue'. _Okay, so maybe 'Aniue'_ _might be taking it a bit too far…_ What did he deserve to be called the derogatory 'idiot brother'?

"Idiot brother is unloved!" the pair shouted back gleefully.

"Monkeys who have crushes on their form teachers have no right to say anything!" retorted Marui, slamming the door of his room so that they would hear. As he'd hoped, this stopped their little exchange as his brothers' attention returned to the PlayStation.

Alone, he flopped onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling. _Huh. They're right… I guess I've been dumped. If I can be dumped when we weren't even really an item to begin with. I… hate this._

_Is this what the girls I went out with felt like whenever I dumped them after a week?_

He had never been dumped before; _he_ had always been the one doing the dumping. Anger, denial, inadequacy washed over him in waves, the morning's numbness long gone. _Seriously, why Yagyuu and not me? I'm so much hotter. That Gentleman is such a prude. Always going Niou-kun this, Niou-kun that. And those reflective spectacles are so not cool. What the hell does Niou see in him? Why… _why_?_

Marui curled up into a tight ball, trying to suppress the rising feeling of vulnerability. _I want Niou to hold me. I want him to want me. I want… I _need_ him… I feel so _broken_, and yet he seems perfectly fine. It's unfair… _so_ unfair…_

_I want to go back and force him to continue dating me. We agreed, seven days… _he_ was the one who said seven days means all hundred and sixty-eight hours of it. You don't get to wriggle out of the deal. Not me, and not him either._ New determination was surging in him, his pride having finally given way to his desire after the day's continuous barrage.

He remembered Niou's pleasure-twisted face, the soft moans he had given as Marui had licked his manhood. Something inside him clenched. He didn't want to give that up so fast. He wanted to savor it until the very last moment before he had to let go.

_I don't care if I'm the second choice._

Once the thought was formed, he found that it was true. He didn't care that Niou would have preferred Yagyuu over him. Niou needed an outlet for his pent-up feelings? Marui would gladly provide it.

_We can _pretend_ to be in love, can't we?_

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Night__: Niou_

After a quick dinner (instant ramen), Niou went up to his room. He had been subconsciously avoiding it since coming home, as though afraid of returning to the scene of – could it be called a crime? But there was nothing for it now; he needed a bath, urgently. He could literally smell himself, which was certainly not unusual since they had had tennis practice. Still, it was definitely uncomfortable and he wanted to get out of his sweaty clothes. With a vague feeling of trepidation, he ascended the stairs and entered his room.

He had cleared up that morning before he'd left for school, so the room looked more or less like it had before Marui had visited. Nevertheless, it felt a little odd – was it a little too clean, perhaps? The trickster did not know.

His eyes moved, drawn to the bed like iron to a magnet. Marui had slept here last night. If he lay there now, would the pillow, the sheets, still have his scent? That sweet, salty, sour, spicy scent?

_I don't want this._

Without realizing he had even moved, he found himself sitting on the bed, dirty clothes and all. His hands gripped the covers. Had Marui been dreaming of him, while sleeping on this bed last night? Was that why Marui had been so daring as to blow him? Or had he looked down from this bed, seen the dreaming Niou and so become aroused himself?

_I'm scared of this._

He remembered the feel of warm hands on his thighs, the taste of bubblegum and strawberry cream, the heady excitement whenever he _knew_ the redhead was helpless before him. He saw Marui's face in his mind's eye, wearing a mischievous grin, an angry glare, a contented smile. His heartbeat seemed ten times louder than usual in his ears.

_I want this._

The breath he hadn't realized he was holding rushed out sharply. He stared unseeingly at the open clothes cupboard in front of him.

_Two more days._

Just as it had that afternoon, his imagination was eagerly producing erotic scenes, this time to help harden his resolve. Marui naked, pinned under him on the bed, pressed front-first against a wall, on his knees in front of him, dangerously aroused and almost crying with need. Marui, begging to be fucked, screaming Niou's name…

_Only an impossible dream…_

Niou crushed his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to shove the tantalizing images away, but more kept appearing. The fact that even if he could get together with Marui again, they would go back to being just teammates didn't seem to matter at all. The flood of images just would not stop.

_For just two days… can't I live a dream?_

He remembered Masako and her boyfriend, the boyfriend shaking his head, looking guilty, mumbling something. Another girl appeared, and the boyfriend started to walk towards her, waving a cursory goodbye. Masako clutched herself, silent tears forming rivers on her face as she sank to her knees. He remembered the foreboding that reared its head in him as he had watched the scene, the fear of ever being the one left behind like his sister, the conviction to never let himself be hurt in that way.

And yet…

_I want to dream._

_~FridayNightNiou~_

Coming out of the bathroom, the trickster realized that he had received a text message. He flipped it open, eyes widening in surprise. It was from Marui.

_Tomorrow morning, 0630._

_- Marui_

His lips tightened. It seemed the redhead had also come to some kind of conclusion.

_At the school gate._

_- Niou_

He turned his cell phone off and threw it into his school bag. The rest could wait till morning.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

**A/N: Eh. Once again, I'm not happy with this chapter. It's too short, mainly because angst is not my forte – though = I almost invariably end up writing some in most of my fics O.o In my opinion, I couldn't construct the change of emotions and the slow acceptance of the pair's desire for each other against the many opposing factors in an appropriate manner. But I'm always harsh on myself. If y'all are happy, so am I :-X Though I doubt you are happy, since I kinda ended on a cliffie again. DX Sorry! But what happens on Saturday can't happen on Friday, if that makes sense. O.o**

**[****To be honest, if real guys got aroused so easily as our dear Marui and Niou in this chapter, I'd be quite scared. I have no idea – I'm not a guy! – but since I'm the Authoress, I say that just thinking of each other in compromising positions can make them aroused. And as the Authoress, my word is law. Hee. XD As before, to compress a full romance into the time span of a week is unrealistic, so kindly participate in suspension of reality while reading this fic. =)]**

**Hope y'all enjoyed the rather heated start to the chapter. Again, as the Authoress, the characters will do what I want them to do when I want them to, so poor Marui had to give Niou a blowjob right after waking up because I ordered him to. I'm sure both of them did enjoy it to some extent, though. ^^ The next couple of chapters will probably be PWP-ish, i.e. lots, and lots of citrus and fluff. Not quite PWP because there is a teensy bit of plot left to tie up, but you get the idea. With luck I will be able to produce reader-worthy M-rated scenes. I've done a couple before, but I certainly don't claim to be good at it. You have been warned. :-X**

**It's**** now 2011 – Happy New Year to all of you! ^^ – and I have to start at the laboratory job my dad got lined up for me. Mind-numbingly boring, but they do let me use the computer whenever I'm at a loose end. Still, it's unlikely that I can write smut in the middle of the office, so the last few chapters are gonna be slow unless a miracle happens and I'm suddenly the Superwoman of Citrus-Writing. Y'all will have to be patient, hard as it is.**

**Now for advertisement corner! I know most of you just ignore it, especially since my A/Ns have become really gigantic monsters, but I shall go ahead anyway because I want to rave/fangirl and don't have many people with whom to rave/fangirl. So, this round I have two animes to talk about – Fafner in the Azure and Pandora Hearts. You'd probably have heard of the latter but not the former. Fafner is a really cool psychological-mecha anime and its new movie Fafner in the Azure: Dead Aggressor – Heaven and Earth just started screening. The two main guys are totally gay for each other XD my only problem is that the art, which is like that of Gundam SEED, means that though the mechas look great, the people all have the same kind of face (unless they're old and wrinkled). It pisses me off, but I still like the series in general. Finished it in just three days, same as with Pandora Hearts. That's a significant achievement since I often watch several series at once, but these two managed to push all the other series' out of the picture and force me to focus on them alone.**

**As for Pandora Hearts, it sounds and looks outlandish, but once you get over the shock of seeing toy-box creatures gone evil, it's really quite good. For one, it's got that psychological aspect (I love psychological-themed animes, they make me feel like I'm working my brain even as it rots in front of the computer); for two, the art is pretty good and the second main guy Gilbert is majorly hot; for three, it has provided me with that **_**extremely **_**hard-to-find reluctant-semeXeager-uke yaoi pairing (GilbertXBreak FTW!) that I've been looking for ever since I started writing this fic (since the HaruMaru here is **_**kind**_** of like that).**

**And here I (finally) end my A/N. Thanks to those who actually read the whole thing XD and really, talk to me! I love to talk to my reviewers (you might've noticed how long my review replies are), so go ahead and comment about anything in the story or the A/N. Of course, by way of –points at review button– ****reviewing****. Please review!**


	6. Saturday

**Saturday**

_Morning__: Marui_

Even though he had said six-thirty in the message, Marui found himself at the school gate a good ten minutes ahead of time. And six-thirty was already plenty early – Saturday practice only began at eight. Still, Rikkai's three demons (Sanada in particular) were notorious for coming early for Saturday practice, and Marui didn't want to risk anyone coming across him and Niou. Besides, the trickster hadn't complained about the early hour.

Part of him went into mild panic mode when he spotted Niou at the other end of the street five minutes ahead of schedule. The other part of him was rather embarrassingly gratified that at least he wasn't the only one who was nervous. Swallowing sharply, Marui told himself firmly, _I can do this. All I need to do is ask. If I never ask, I'll never know, will I?_

Niou didn't seem to have seen him – he was walking with his head down, watching his own shoes traveling across the pavement. About twenty yards away, he looked up suddenly, and in that instant their eyes met. Marui flinched and looked down at his shoes. Immediately he berated himself for acting like a shy girl on her first date. _C'mon, myself! I can do better than this!_ With great effort, he forced himself to look up again.

By the time he managed to tear his eyes away from the floor, the trickster was standing just an arm's length away. Marui consoled himself again with the fact that Niou didn't exactly look confident either. Those sea-green eyes darted about, from the floor to Marui's face to the gate and back. "… Shall we go in?" ventured Niou after a beat.

Marui nodded and followed when the trickster walked into the school down the familiar path to the tennis courts. Against his will, the redhead found himself remembering how everything had started that Monday on this very same path. _I was shaking him and demanding whether or not he was an alien. I can't believe that now, less than a week later, I'm scared to even come within touching distance of him._

Niou halted abruptly on the path, stepping off it to stand beside a large tree. Marui wondered fleetingly if it was the one overhead when they had been making their alien jokes. He bit the inside of his cheek, following. _I better say something soon. It's weird not talking…_ "Uh, Niou –"

At the very same time, Niou began, "Hey, Marui –"

They both stopped and stared at each other, surprised and embarrassed. There was a moment of shocked silence. Then, "Sorry," they chorused.

If either of them had been less jittery, this extreme cliché might have had them helpless with laughter. However, in this case, the embarrassment only increased tenfold. Again, Marui found his eyes on the ground. Silence was stretching itself once more between them when Niou suddenly swore. Hands appeared on Marui's shoulders, gripping tight enough to make the redhead wince. Words tumbled from the trickster's mouth. "Marui, I'm sorry. About yesterday. I didn't mean – fuck it all, I just – if you don't mind –"

_Don't tell me he wants to back out? No! _The resolution he had made the previous night echoed in his mind, behind the frantic thoughts. Before Niou could finish his sentence, the redhead interrupted, "Seven days, Niou. That's what we agreed on. All hundred and sixty-eight hours of it – you said it yourself. I'm not letting you go now, if that's what you're asking. If I don't get to wriggle out of the deal, neither do you!"

"I – wait – what?" Confusion was written all over Niou's face. "You – aren't you –"

Stamping on his pride, Marui spoke over the trickster's muddled stuttering. "I – I don't care if you like Yagyuu. I want you to stay – I mean, the week's not over yet, so you can't just leave." He hated how pathetic and clingy he was acting, but there was no help for it. If he never said anything, the chance would be gone.

"You're not… mad at me?" Niou asked, surprised. His grip on the redhead's shoulders slackened as he stared at the shorter boy's face.

"I was, but I don't care shit about it anymore." Shrugging off the trickster's hands, Marui took half a step forward and grabbed Niou's head, pulling him into a hard kiss. The response was tentative at first, but quickly became more confident, rougher. Arms snaked around his waist, and he reveled in the warmth, the newly-made-familiar sensation of being embraced by a male, the heady triumph in achieving his goal. Niou couldn't really not like him, not when he was kissing Marui with this much heat.

They broke apart when the need for air became too pressing to ignore. Marui noted with satisfaction that Niou's face was flushed, and with vague puzzlement that the trickster was grinning. "What's so funny?" he demanded.

Niou shook his head. "I was going to ask you if we could continue with this dating thing, too. Never thought you'd ask the same." He laughed, rather sheepishly. "I feel like an idiot. And really, sorry about the whole Yagyuu thing. I'm over it. Because of you, actually."

Marui raised his eyebrows in a question. Niou answered, "It's a bit hard not to get distracted by someone who tries to suck you off."

The redhead felt his cheeks burn; he looked away. "Sorry about that. I just…"

"It's okay," said his boyfriend. "And it felt good, in case you were wondering."

The temperature of his face increased even further. Marui had the feeling that if it was winter, his cheeks would have been steaming visibly. "Oh. I, uh, didn't realize. I mean, um, it's not like I've –"

His stammering was interrupted when Niou caught his lips with his own. Several seconds of liplock later, Marui had completely forgotten what he had been talking about in the first place. Many other, more important things were on his mind. Like –

"I think I've rediscovered my libido," remarked the trickster, managing a serious tone despite having only just breaking the kiss.

Marui tried to laugh, but didn't have enough breath to do so. "Really? I had no idea. No wonder I thought there was something hard poking me in the stomach."

"Good answer," said Niou approvingly. "I _knew_ you would be entertaining."

"Somehow I don't feel complimented," grumbled the redhead.

"I'll make it up to you," promised his boyfriend.

Marui gasped when a tongue ran over his ear, sending shivers down his spine. He had no idea ears were so _sensitive._ "Ah – Niou –"

"Let's change locations," decided the trickster. _How the hell does he manage to act so cool even with a major hard-on?_ wondered Marui, incredulous. But he _did_ agree with the idea of changing locations, since he too was aroused and the idea of their teammates catching them with their pants down (in more ways than one) was _not_ appealing.

"Where?" he asked, not letting go of his boyfriend.

"Changing room," answered Niou. "It's the nearest."

Marui stared. "What the hell? If Sanada comes in early –"

"We won't take long," said the trickster in a reassuring tone.

The redhead did not feel in the least reassured. "But –"

"You want to get fucked on the grass?"

"No, but –"

"Okay, then let's get going." Niou made to pull away in order to walk for the aforementioned building.

Marui planted himself and held on tight. Perhaps the trickster was stronger than he was, but he wasn't going to go without a fight. "I said no!"

Sighing, Niou stopped and turned back to the redhead. "Well, if you _must_ go the hard way…"

Without warning, a hand took hold of Marui's erection through the thin material of his tennis shorts, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from the redhead. "Fuck, Niou, what –" The hand tightened, stroking firmly, and Marui felt his muscles melting as pleasure took over from reason. "Ah – wait – I –"

Lips brushed against his teasingly. "Come along, princess. We need to take care of that, don't we?"

Marui writhed, feeling as though every single part of his body was on fire from Niou's touch. Fingers pinched his nipples, drawing a sharp gasp from him. He had fantasized about this, yes, but the reality was so much more… _real._ Niou's tongue on his neck, Niou's hands on his chest and hips, Niou's legs twined with his own –

Mind-numbing pleasure rolled over his body, crashing into him like a wave. He hung gasping in his boyfriend's grasp. Embarrassment rose in the wave's backwash.

Niou (to Marui's relief) did not let go of him. "Whoa. You came just from me fisting you?"

"Sorry," mumbled the redhead, unable to meet his eyes.

"It's okay. I just didn't realize I had such a powerful effect on you," replied the trickster, in a slightly teasing voice. "Luckily I have spare clothes."

Marui chanced a look. Pale, sticky liquid splattered their yellow tennis uniforms. _Oh _god_ this is so embarrassing…_ About to pull away, he was suddenly yanked closer, such that their two bodies were flush together. "…Niou?"

"Don't make such a pained face, princess," Niou murmured. "Seriously, I'm fine. I'm even happy. It's proof you like me."

"Cheesy bastard," grumbled Marui, blushing again. This time, though, the embarrassment was a different kind of embarrassment. Almost a good kind of embarrassment, if such a thing even existed.

"Yeah, well, it's your fault. If you hadn't gotten so embarrassed I wouldn't have needed to reassure you," his boyfriend pointed out. "In any case, you might've gotten release, but _I_ haven't. And I owe you a favor. So can we _please_ go to the changing rooms? Unless you honestly want to get fucked into the ground right now."

"I don't! But…" _Owe me a favor? For what? How do I say I'm scared? I don't want to look like a wimp, but… does he really plan to have sex now?_

"Relax. I won't do anything you haven't done before," Niou assured him.

"… Okay, I guess. We need to take care of that boner of yours too, don't we?" Marui grinned at the trickster's expression. _Hah. Score one for me._

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Morning__: Niou_

By the time they got to the changing rooms, he had successfully gotten Marui aroused again. The redhead was more sensitive than he'd thought, and just some touches in the right areas could give him a hard-on. Watching his boyfriend's strong reactions to each touch was more than enough to keep Niou's own erection going.

He was fairly sure nobody had been around – it was only quarter to seven, and no fangirl was quite devoted enough to lie in wait more than an hour ahead of time on a Saturday. Still, they had to be quick, or Sanada might come waltzing in, and he would most certainly blow his top to find his teammates having sex in the changing rooms. Niou didn't want to think of the laps they would get as penalty. Most likely, they'd be running until the next day. Or the next week.

Once in the room, he guided them both to the showers at the back of the room. How he did this with one hand toying with the redhead's nipples and the other gripping his ass was a mystery even to him.

At the lockers, he paused, tugging at Marui's shirt. His boyfriend quickly caught on and began to work at Niou's clothes. In seconds they were naked, having tossed their garments haphazardly into their lockers. Niou allowed himself to admire his boyfriend's naked arousal. Sweat from their lustful exertions already gave his skin a light sheen. The thought of what he would look like thoroughly wet was an undeniable turn-on.

As if feeling the eyes on him, Marui glanced at him. Seeing Niou's shameless gaze, his already flushed cheeks reddened even more. "It's rude to stare," he admonished, turning away as though to hide his erect manhood.

Niou grinned; he liked the way Marui could be so cutely shy at times and so exhilaratingly fiery at others. "But you're nice to stare at," he replied, teasing. "Besides, as your boyfriend, I have the right to stare."

As he spoke, he wrapped his arms around the redhead's waist, pulling him close. He felt the muscles of the body he held tighten as his erection pressed against the crack, and relished the freedom to touch, pleasure, ravish this amazing person. Bending his head, he sank his teeth into the muscle between neck and shoulder, licking and sucking. Once again, Marui's body snapped taut, his limbs flailing weakly in halfhearted protest as soft, unintelligible sounds fell from his open lips. Only when the trickster took away his mouth did the redhead manage to articulate, "I hate you, bastard," between heavy breaths.

Niou just grinned. He would get his boyfriend to sing a different tune soon enough.

Collapsing against the shower wall, Marui felt around hazily, soon locating the appropriate knob. Lukewarm water cascaded over both of them, and Niou decided that as nice as his fantasy of a wet Marui was, the real deal was ten times better. Two steps, and his body was pressing the redhead's to the wet tiles, their tongues tangling in a deep kiss as their aching erections rubbed agonizingly against each other. Marui moaned involuntarily into the kiss, arms tight around Niou's neck, legs trembling as the muscles failed to hold him.

Niou shifted his mouth away from his boyfriends, trailing kisses on his jaw, neck, collarbone. Pinching one of Marui's hardened nipples, he was rewarded with a suppressed gasp. He let one hand drop to cup the redhead's rear, his fingers brushing the sensitive spot at the end of the tailbone. Marui's grip on him tightened; something very like a whimper escaped his lips. He struggled to raise his head from where it had been buried in the trickster's collarbone. "Niou, wait, I don't know – I haven't – "

"Relax, princess. I'm not going to fuck you, not yet," reassured Niou. "Not enough time. We gotta do it a faster way."

"Huh?" Marui was nonplussed. "Then… what are you going to do?"

The trickster grinned. "Remember, I owe you a favor." Before his boyfriend could ask more questions, he removed the arms that held him and knelt. Remembering the gay porn shows he'd seen, Niou pushed the redhead's thighs roughly apart and, in the same movement, swallowed his erection to the hilt.

His efforts were rewarded with a muffled shout. A quick glance upwards told him that Marui had had the presence of mind to cover his mouth. _Just as well, if anyone happens to come in early._ Niou licked at the thick member, enjoying the stifled noises of pleasure coming from above. He was almost carrying his boyfriend, hands behind Marui's knees as the redhead, overcome with pleasure, leaned against the wall, legs having given way. The trickster could see Marui's left hand scrabbling in vain on the wall for something, anything, to hold onto, while his teeth sank into the back of his right hand. The knowledge that he was pleasuring his boyfriend helped to push away the awkwardness of the act; every sound that Marui emitted seemed to send jolts of electricity straight to his own groin. Unconsciously, he brought one hand down to his manhood and started to pump, no longer able to ignore the need for friction.

Marui slid several inches down the slick wall before managing to steady himself by using Niou's head as a support. The trickster felt his boyfriend's hand tugging almost painfully at his hair as the redhead arched helplessly against him. "Niou, I'm going to –" began Marui, but Niou only increased the pressure of his tongue and teeth against Marui's length, simultaneously increasing the speed of his strokes on himself. The hot pressure in his groin _needed_ release –

A sharp jerk of the hips under him, and warm, bitter liquid filled his mouth. Even with his fist muffling the sound, Niou could hear Marui's ecstatic gasp forming his name – "_Niou_!..." That was what pushed him over the edge into white bliss, his seed spilling onto both their bodies.

They slid to the tiled floor, still panting harshly as they recovered. The shower was by this time cold, and this helped them both to cool off while also washing away the evidence of their activities. Soon they were able to untangle themselves.

Marui was the first to speak. "I never got _you_ to come," he remarked.

"That's because I know better than to stop in the middle, unlike you, princess," Niou informed him.

"Bastard," muttered the redhead, but there was no bite in the insult. "That was revenge, not returning a favor."

"Don't deny that you enjoyed it," replied Niou, grinning when his boyfriend blushed beet red. "You were making so much noise. If anyone was around, they could come just by listening to you."

"Pervert," was the abashed retort.

"Isn't that what you love about me?" the trickster pointed out blithely, turning off the shower on the way back to the lockers.

Happily, nobody had come yet. Marui gave an audible sigh of relief. "I don't want to think of what we might've gotten if Sanada had caught us."

Niou yawned as he put his clothes on again. "Well, he didn't, did he? 'sides, we've an hour before practice officially begins. I don't know about you, but _I_ want to sleep. Giving a blowjob is tiring."

"I didn't _ask_ you for it," his boyfriend objected.

"Yeah? You were holding onto my head and pushing into my mouth so hard. If that's not asking for it, I don't know what is." The trickster stretched out on a bench, using his tennis bag as a pillow.

"Oh, just shut up," grumbled Marui, but he sat down on the floor next to the bench, leaning his head against Niou's side.

"Certainly, princess," answered Niou sleepily.

He felt mildly gratified when the redhead did not protest the nickname.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Afternoon__: Marui_

Practice that day ended with a round of practice matches after a couple of hours' worth of drills. Yukimura and Kirihara played doubles against Sanada and Yanagi, Jackal was up against Yagyuu and Marui against Niou. The redhead had a feeling that Yukimura suspected them and thus made them play against each other, but decided not to ask the pretty blunette. Some things were better left unsaid.

Yukimura and Kirihara won their match (of course), and Yagyuu also beat Jackal after a long endurance match. Marui, however, lost to Niou with a shameful score of 6-3, in a shameful time of forty-five minutes. Intra-Rikkai-team matches rarely if ever ended in less than an hour, and Sanada lost no time in taking Marui to task.

"You were very off your game," the stern fukubuchou informed him. "What have you to say for yourself?'

Marui chewed on his bubblegum, though it had long since lost its flavor. He couldn't possibly tell Sanada that every time he met Niou's eyes across the net, his body became uncoordinated and unresponsive to his instructions. It was beyond embarrassing, for one, and for two, Sanada would never believe him. He would only get a tarundoru-ing for his trouble. So he sighed, drooping. "I think I might be coming down with something. Flu, maybe." He sniffed for effect.

"Hm." Sanada did not look convinced. "Why didn't you say so earlier? You should not play matches unless you are in top form. You could have done drills instead."

The redhead pouted. "But fukubuchou, drills are _boring_. And I didn't think it was so bad."

"Even if it's only a slight discomfort, you should speak up. It may seem insignificant, but you never know," said Yukimura, placing a placating hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Marui, you must be more responsible about your body." Sanada nodded in agreement.

"Yes, buchou," answered Marui, trying to look sick and apologetic at the same time.

"Very well then, practice is over for today," declared the blunette. To Marui, he added, "I expect you to have _recovered_ by Monday."

The look that accompanied the comment was significant, and the redhead sighed, resigned. "I'll try, buchou."

_~SaturdayAfternoonMarui~_

To avoid further unnecessary embarrassment on his part, Marui made sure to use the shower on the far end of the row from Niou. It would be _very_ difficult to explain an unintentional arousal to a disapproving Sanada or an amused Kirihara. He was taking no chances.

Back at the lockers, Niou grinned at him around the open door. "You get distracted easily," he teased.

Marui grimaced at him. "Shut up. It's your fucking fault I was distracted."

The trickster didn't bother denying it. It was the truth, after all. Instead, he asked, "Want to go out after this?"

_What, we're _finally_ going to go on a date? If it is even a date. I guess it just shows how screwed up we are, that we start going out after sex rather than the other way around. _He fixed a stern eye on his boyfriend. "Just to clarify – is this a date?" he inquired in a low voice so that their teammates wouldn't hear.

Niou blinked. "I suppose so. Why?"

"Because if it's a date, you get to pay for everything," replied Marui, grinning wolfishly.

"Why shouldn't it be the other way around?" demanded Niou. "I'm sure you pay for all your girlfriends –"

"Oh, so you're saying you're the girl here?" Marui smirked. "Of course, if that's the case I don't mind –"

His boyfriend looked shocked. "No! Fine, have it your way, _princess._ I'll treat you."

"Knew you'd be useful for something," quipped the redhead. "But honestly, this'll be a welcome change. To be treated, that is."

Niou smiled crookedly. "As nice as it is to be appreciated I suggest you put on the rest of your clothes. Not that I don't enjoy the view, but I'd prefer we leave before fukubuchou catches us heading somewhere apart from home, especially since you're supposed to be coming down with the flu."

Marui scrambled to get into his clothes, growling, "Pervert."

"Love you too," replied his boyfriend. "Right, let's be off. Where do you want to go?"

_~SaturdayAfternoonMarui~_

They ended up going to the movies, because there weren't many other couple-y activities they could do without looking weird. And though Marui had been reluctant to go and watch _another_ movie, the sight of the advertisement for The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya changed his mind at once. He practically dragged his boyfriend into the cinema.

"I didn't know you had such otaku tendencies," muttered Niou as they found seats.

"Most _normal _teenage guys like Haruhi," Marui hissed back. "It's _not_ otaku!"

"It is and you know it." Niou sighed. "But for your sake, I guess I can endure watching a shoujo anime."

Marui decided not to argue further. It _was_ undeniably shoujo, even if its otaku-ness was debatable. "My brothers were watching it, and it seemed quite funny, so I watched too," he explained, knowing that it didn't make much difference.

"Relax, Marui. I won't run off just because you watch Haruhi." His boyfriend looked amused. "Don't get your panties in a twist."

"I don't wear panties!" protested the redhead, just a shade too loud. The couple a few seats down in the row in front of them glanced around in surprise, and Marui quickly lowered his voice again. "You bastard, Niou, I'm not a fucking _girl_!""

Niou reached up and ruffled Marui's hair, much to the redhead's surprise. "I know. Isn't that why I'm with you?"

"… Bastard," repeated Marui rebelliously, his cheeks a red to rival his hair.

About halfway through the movie, Niou commented, "Those two guys would look really good together."

"What the hell? Koizumi obviously likes Haruhi, in this world at least," objected Marui.

"_Hey, are you close to Haruhi?"_

"_Yeah, I suppose so. I like her, after all."_

"See?" Marui prodded Niou. "He likes Haruhi!"

"Yeah, well, I can always wish for the impossible, can't I?" was the offhand reply.

"Go watch a shounen-ai show, then. Shoujo stuff doesn't have gays."

"Ah, you admitted that it's shoujo!"

The redhead cast about for a suitable comeback and came up blank. "I never said it wasn't shoujo," he said lamely.

"Oi, you two! Keep it down!" hissed someone in the row behind. "Some of us are actually watching the movie, you know!"

"Sorry!" apologized Marui, sotto voce. To Niou, he added, "Your fault."

"Why's it _my_ fault? You're the one who's talking so much," the trickster pointed out in an undertone.

"Because it can't be _my_ fault. That makes it your fault, doesn't it?"

"That logic is _so_ amazing." A hand slid up to the back of his neck, pulling him closer; lips touched his in a teasing kiss.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Marui demanded, forcing himself to keep his voice down. "We're in public, dammit!"

"Gods, Marui, don't tell me you haven't made out with a girl in a cinema before. You're the one with all the experience. Aren't cinemas designated couple areas?" whispered his boyfriend. Despite how soft it was, Marui could still hear the playful note in it.

He _had_ kissed his numerous girlfriends in the cinema, but that was usually during romantic comedy movies that he wasn't particularly interested in. Kissing the girl was just to help tide over the boredom. Also, the girl usually expected it. In this case, though, he was actually interested in the movie and kissing Niou was a _lot_ more distracting than kissing any of those girlfriends. "Well, yeah, but I really want to watch the movie," he told the trickster, trying not to whine. "So don't do that anymore, okay?"

Niou ruffled his hair. "Only because you asked, princess."

Smiling in resignation to the nickname, Marui leaned over slightly, copying the girls he had been to the movies with. His head landed on Niou's shoulder, and his boyfriend chuckled, bending his head to brush his lips on the redhead's forehead.

"Can you two take it to a hotel or something if you're planning to continue?" demanded the self-appointed critic behind them, unimpressed by their interaction.

"Nosy bastard," muttered Niou, glaring at the object of his dissatisfaction.

"Now, don't fight," said Marui lazily. It was very comfortable on Niou's shoulder. "You'll disrupt the movie."

"You don't say." His boyfriend settled back in his seat. "Wish we had bought more popcorn. We could toss it on that jerk and pretend it was an accident."

"It'd be a waste of popcorn," the redhead pointed out.

Niou sighed. "I guess."

The rest of the movie passed without incident. Well, Niou did complain rather loudly about how the time-travelling and various other capabilities of the characters made absolutely no sense (which was perfectly natural considering that he was a newcomer to Haruhi), incurring the wrath of several moviegoers near them, but no further intimacy. Marui wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed by that. It would have been horribly embarrassing to get aroused in the middle of a perfectly innocent movie, but he couldn't help wishing Niou had tried to kiss him again.

_Shit, I'm really turning into a girl. I bet I'll wake up tomorrow and find I have girl-bits. It's not fair that he has this effect on me! _the redhead complained internally. Of course he didn't dare say it aloud. He'd only end up being the victim of Niou's teasing. "Anywhere you wanna go to?" he asked instead.

"Hmm…" The trickster scratched his head absently as he considered. "Arcade?"

"No way. Arcades are notorious moneysuckers," protested Marui. "I always end up with an empty wallet after going to the arcade. Unless you plan to treat?"

His boyfriend grimaced. "Then I'd have to pay double, right? Okay, no arcade. Dinner?"

"Too early," demurred the redhead. "And I'm still full of popcorn. How about karaoke? I love karaoke."

"I suppose that's okay… don't expect much from me, though," Niou warned. "Unlike you, I'm not the kind to win singing competitions."

"Oh, you remembered!" Marui grinned. He had won a school-wide singing contest back in middle school. "How sweet."

"Yeah, well, you wouldn't shut up about it for weeks," defended his boyfriend. "And neither did your fangirls."

Marui waved these technicalities away. "Right, so karaoke it is! Let's go!"

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Afternoon__: Niou_

"Oh look, there are songs from Haruhi," remarked Niou, pointing them out on the list.

"They're girl songs; it'd be weird if I sing them," Marui objected. "Not to mention terribly otaku. You know, like those really disgusting fat guys who wear panties on their heads while singing cutesy shoujo anime songs."

The trickster winced. "Well, at least you don't wear panties on your head."

"I don't wear panties at _all_, pervert." His boyfriend grabbed the karaoke list. "Give that here."

"Ah, my sister loves this group," Niou commented. "Tegomass. It's a guy duet. Their songs were used for shoujo stuff like… what's it called? Neo Angelique Abyss."

"God, how gay is that? Not only are they a _guy duet_, they sing shoujo songs." Marui shook his head in disappointment.

Niou laughed. "You're one to talk. Who was the one who came from a simple hand job?"

Marui's face looked hot enough to toast bread on. "Shut up, you horny bastard!"

"Okay, how about this? I'll pick a song for you, and you can pick one for me," offered the trickster.

The redhead frowned. "But if we don't know the songs we can't sing them properly!"

Sighing patiently, Niou produced his iPhone. "Ever heard of YouTube?"

"Oh. Then I suppose it's okay," agreed Marui reluctantly. "No girl singers, though!

Niou grinned in triumph. "Awesome. Do 'Aiaigasa' by Tegomass."

Marui's eyes bugged. "The hell? Why do I have to sing a gay song like that? I mean, I haven't heard it before, but a song called 'Shared Umbrella' sung by a pair of guys? That's so obviously gay!"

"Too bad, you already agreed to it," said Niou mercilessly, finding the corresponding YouTube video and passing the phone to his boyfriend. "If it helps, you can give me something equally humiliating later."

The redhead watched the promotional video with open skepticism, frowning throughout the ultra-sweet song. "Those two guys are _so_ gay," he pronounced when it was over. "Okay, the kids are kinda cute, but what's with the water fight? And that's _got_ to be lipgloss."

"Get in the mood for gayness," replied the trickster lazily. "If you don't sing, I won't fuck you later."

Marui's face went so red so quickly Niou half expected his head to blow up in steam, comic-style. "Wh-who said I was going to let you fuck me?" he practically squeaked.

Smirking, Niou poked his boyfriend's heated cheeks. "You certainly look like you want it. So, sing or not?"

"… I'll sing," growled the redhead at last, turning his back firmly on the trickster. "But not because of – of _that_, okay? It's because – because I already agreed to singing earlier! And I'll make you sing the worst shoujo song I can find later as payback!"

Niou smiled indulgently. "Whatever you say, princess."

"Hmph!" Marui went to the karaoke set, still determinedly looking everywhere but at Niou. After a few moments, the first notes reverberated from the speakers. The redhead took a deep breath as though steeling himself for something horribly unpleasant. Then, seeing the words appearing on-screen, he began to sing.

_"The rain won't stop..." you look down_

_I slanted the umbrella so your shoulders wouldn't get wet_

_You looked up at me and drew a little closer, right?_

_You shiver a little as you hug my arm, still smiling_

_I will tell you my feelings properly today_

_I love you (you) almost too much_

_Under the shared umbrella_

_Still not innocently expressing my full sentiments_

_So it won't be over_

_The rain that is passing urges me on_

_The rainy romance of two people becoming closer_

Niou leaned back in his seat, enjoying his boyfriend's wonderful singing voice. Despite all his previous protestations, once he was singing, Marui seemed to forget how gay the song was.

Almost as though he had sensed Niou's thoughts, the redhead glanced over with a grimace. "God, I can't believe I'm singing something this sappy. I'll have my revenge on you later, so prepare yourself!"

"I look forward to it," said the trickster absently. "The second verse is starting."

_"We're almost home..." you look down_

_Though I call your name & meet your eyes, there are things I can't say_

_I will tell you my feelings properly today_

_I love you (you) almost too much_

_I hope it rains tomorrow_

_Because the fragment of me that thinks it isn't lying_

_When the light peeks through_

_The rain that is passing is smiling_

_The rainy romance of two tantalized people_

"Hell, how do they have such high voices?" complained Marui, drinking hurriedly in the instrumental interlude before the final chorus. "They must've gotten themselves castrated or something."

"Well, you're hitting the notes without too much strain, so you really shouldn't be talking," Niou pointed out. "Especially since we both know very well that you're not castrated."

Marui stuck his tongue out in reply as he turned back to the screen.

_Under the shared umbrella_

_Still not innocently expressing my full sentiments_

_So it won't be over_

_The rain that is passing urges me on_

_The rainy romance of two people becoming closer_

"It's finally over!" cheered the redhead, tossing the microphone at the shabby sofa. It landed with a dull thump next to Niou. "I'm gonna sing something else, or I won't be able to get over the uber-sweet-ultimate-gay overload."

"Says the guy who gets hard just thinking about me," Niou teased.

Marui sputtered. "What – h-how did you –'

"I guessed, and you just proved it." Grinning triumphantly, Niou rescued the mike from where it was about to roll onto the floor. "Though, I must say that despite the gayness and the fact that it's the first time you've ever heard this song, you sang very well," he added, taking pity on his very much embarrassed boyfriend.

"It _was_ a pretty slow song," demurred the redhead, dropping onto the sofa as he reached for the song list. "Hmm…"

Niou noticed the blush, which had begun to fade from his boyfriend's face as he perused the list, suddenly return in a flood. "Oi, princess, much as I love you, I don't think it's a good idea to fuck in a karaoke stu–"

'No! You fucked-up idiot, who would even think of that?" exclaimed Marui. His ears had turned red, observed the trickster. "I was just – just thinking of making you sing this!"

"Iroha Song?" Niou read the title pointed out by his very much embarrassed boyfriend. "Never heard of it."

"It's a Vocaloid song," explained the redhead. "Here –" Grabbing Niou's iPhone, he quickly found the YouTube video. "Um… it's a bit…"

Listening to the song, Niou's eyebrows shot up. "Whoa. Not such a princess after all, maybe. But why this song?"

Marui squirmed. "I… thought it suited your voi– no, I mean, I don't really listen to super gay songs like that one you made me sing, so the best alternative is something not gay but –"

"Suggestive," supplied the trickster, now waggling his eyebrows in exactly the way he had described. "Hm. Well, your wish is my command, princess. I will happily obey. Still, didn't you want to sing another song to get rid of the gay aftertaste in your mouth?"

"Wh – pervert!" yelped the redhead, the red in his cheeks increasing yet again. "Yeah, I wanted to sing again, but all those freakishly high notes have killed my throat. I'll watch you suffer while I recover."

"Now who will be the one suffering?" inquired Niou, leaning in close to his boyfriend with an evil smirk.

Marui nearly fell off the sofa in his hurry to get away. "Hey, you were the one who said making out in the karaoke studio was a bad idea?"

"Okay, okay," Niou said, relenting. "Later, then, princess. Now, let's try this very _interesting_ song."

_If you have a strong need for me to be_

_I am as a dog that cannot be free_

_With a cord, with a rope, or with a chain_

_In your reach will I always remain_

_If you want, then as a kitten I will be_

_And I will then do so dutifully_

_With fingers, with my feet, and with my lips_

_Satisfy your every command_

Had he been familiar with the song, Niou would have definitely added appropriate dance gestures. They would be perfect to complete this song. He would have enjoyed the expression Marui was sure to come up with, too. Unfortunately, he _wasn't_familiar with the song, and could not afford to let his attention slide.

_The one who falls victim to_

_What they're longing for the most_

_Things like that really do not matter at all_

_Colours burst out like paint scattered across the wall_

_There's no one who can always be their best_

_I want to find out more than just skin deep things_

_Today I can go above the transient world_

_Without dreaming of untrue euphoria_

_Let your colours stain me_

_Iro- ha ni ho he to chi ri nu ru o_

_Ah_

In the brief break between verses, Niou stole a glance at his boyfriend. Marui had his feet up on the sofa (having considerately toed off his shoes first) and was hugging his knees as he listened intently. Satisfied that he was paying attention, the trickster turned his attention back to the song, which was more than fast enough and unfamiliar enough to keep him on his toes. At least the range wasn't as large or as high as the one he'd forced on Marui.

_I can be a camellia flower_

_Blooming in winter's every hour_

_With rain or frost having me deep encased_

_My display cannot be replaced_

_Or maybe you would instead prefer a rose_

_To see it in an almost falling pose_

_With the hair and the neck filled with sweet smell_

_Being wrapped in death's scent as I fell_

Niou decided, _As soon as I have the time, I shall download this song and choreograph a dance to go with it._ Surprisingly (or perhaps not), the trickster liked to dance and was good at it. Dance Dance Revolution from the age of four due to his slightly sadistic older sister was probably a factor.

_I still am far from what I want_

_Being stained to the bone_

_If that's all there is, I don't feel at all fulfilled_

_Colours burst out like paint scattered across the wall_

_There's no one who can always be their best_

_I want to find out more than just skin deep things_

_Today I can go above the transient world_

_Without dreaming of untrue euphoria_

_I will change who I am for your sake alone_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Colours burst out like paint scattered across the wall_

_There's no one who can always be their best_

_I want to find out more than just skin deep things_

_Today I can go above the transient world_

_Without dreaming of untrue euphoria_

_Let me stay with you even in death_

_I ro ha ni ho he to, wherever you may go_

_Ah_

"Wow, you made less than five mistakes throughout! It wasn't even an easy melody," remarked Marui. "I'm impressed. And you said not to expect much from you, too."

"It was most definitely not easy," quipped the trickster. "But it was so _interesting_ that I couldn't help trying harder at it than usual. Here I was thinking you were the kind who listened to stuff like Morning Musume and that Korean one, Girls' Generation. I stand corrected."

"Why are they all _girl bands_? I compliment you and get an insult in return. Alright then, I understand. From now on you'll get nothing but insults from _me_," his boyfriend declared with a huff. "Asshole."

"Princess," replied Niou, not in the least alarmed by the threat. "Anyway, thanks for introducing that song to me. I always thought Vocaloid was some kind of otaku thing. I suppose there had to be _something_ good in it."

Marui kicked him. "Stop abusing everything I like, bastard. Vocaloid is _cool_. Not otaku at all!"

"So you're admitting you like Morning Musume?" Niou inquired. He was enjoying himself tremendously. "I'll accept that Vocaloid isn't otaku, at least for now."

"I don't! If there must be girls, I like the band angela. They're way cooler than Morning Musume!" insisted the redhead. "See, they're like this –"

Niou swiped his iPhone out of his boyfriend's reach. "Nuh-uh. Say pretty please."

Marui glared. "No."

"Then you don't get the phone," replied the trickster, grinning.

"Huh. You are _so_ petty," grumbled his boyfriend. "I refuse to lower myself to such a level. Honestly, '_pretty please'_? I thought you could do better than that!"

That was true, as much as Niou did not want to admit it. "Oh well, you see, I'm too busy thinking of what we'll do later," he defended, thinking quickly. "You know, going through my repository of gay porn for inspiration."

Just as he'd calculated, this immediately made Marui turn a flaming red. "Pervert! Who said I was even going to go home with you?"

"Eh, you're not? I'm so disappointed," Niou mourned. "You don't know how disappointed I am."

His boyfriend hit him. "Enough melodrama."

"I assumed you'd be coming home with me," said Niou, dropping the act. "Since the house is empty but for us. And after all we did this morning, I was sure you'd want more. I know I do."

"You're so horny," accused Marui.

The trickster pretended repentance. "Goodness, so I am. Maybe it's because I have a really cute boyfriend."

"Couldn't you have said _hot_ instead of 'cute'?" the redhead complained. "Well, I'll let it go. The fact remains that you're bowled over by my awesomeness."

"Indeed," agreed Niou, straight-faced. "So are you coming over or not?"

Marui looked surprised. "Of course. You're not the only one who's horny."

Niou grinned. Tonight was going to be _fun._

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Evening__: Marui_

"What are we doing for dinner?" inquired Marui.

Niou rubbed the back of his neck. "Please don't tell me you want a candlelight dinner," he said, a faint pleading note in his voice.

Marui whacked him. "Idiot! Obviously not! I was thinking burgers. I can't get enough of burgers. Girls always want to go to cafes and restaurants, not fast food joints. I'm constantly suffering from burger withdrawal."

"But when we go out as a team –" began his boyfriend, then checked himself. "Oh. Right. Our three demons make sure we eat _healthy, healthy, healthy_."

"Exactly!" Marui nodded vigorously. "So, burgers?"

"Fine by me," shrugged Niou. "Burgers it is."

Not long after, they managed to secure a tiny table in a corner of the second floor of a very crowded McDonald's. It _was_ Saturday, after all. Most of the people here were teens or younger, boys out with friends. Marui thought he saw a couple or two, and a few girls, but not many. Japanese females did tend to be more health conscious.

"Shall I go order?" Niou offered. "What do you want?"

"Double cheeseburger meal, upsize fries and upsize Coke," answered the redhead. "Make sure you take the ketchup packets!"

"Okay. Wish me luck," said the trickster, eyeing the crowd with some apprehension before plunging in.

"Come back alive!" Marui called after his rapidly-disappearing boyfriend. Settling back into the plastic chair, he shook his head, amused by Niou's antics. _I had no idea he didn't like crowds. Oh well, I suppose he must really like me to endure all this for my sake._

That made him feel rather odd, and he shook his head again, harder this time, as though to shake off the weirdness. _Stop it, Marui. You two are just fooling around with each other… right? Right? If not, you're in deep shit. You're planning to let him fuck you. How can you do that if you're not serious? You never did anything with all those girls. He has you twisted around his little finger already. Can't you be a little less… spineless? You're a guy!_

Trying to distract himself, Marui focused on the people at the next table. The pair of girls – definitely not yet in middle school – was leaving, ducking and weaving easily through the crowd. A boy and a girl, holding hands, emerged from the mass. They had the awkward look of first-time dates; Marui was willing to bet that they were holding hands more out of obligation and to make sure they didn't lose each other in the crowd than because they were really that lovey-dovey.

_Middle schoolers_, decided Marui, checking the school logo. _Not Rikkai – good. It'd be irritating if they knew us._ Even as he thought that, he remembered that almost anyone in Kanagawa knew about the Rikkaidai tennis team. Still, the pair didn't seem to recognize him. They sat down at the next table. _Heh. They probably wouldn't notice if someone were dancing stark naked over here. They're looking at each other only. Ah, young love…_

Now that was going a bit too far. Just because he'd never found his partner so much more interesting than the rest of the world didn't mean he was old and doddery. Consciously averting his eyes from the couple, he stared out of the window. _Come to think of it, this doesn't feel like a date dinner. More like a going-out-with-friends dinner. That's what anyone would think, looking at a pair of guys having dinner together at McDonald's. So what are we really?_ Thinking back to what they had done that morning in the changing rooms, he bit his lip._ Friends with benefits? Or… boyfriends? And what about next week, when the seven days are over?_

Pathetic though it was, he didn't want to think about it. _Think about next week, _next_ week,_ he told himself firmly.

A tray landed hard on the table. Marui jumped backwards in his seat as fries spilled from their container onto the table. Happily, none fell to the floor. "Missed me?" inquired Niou, grinning wickedly.

"You didn't need to slam it down like that," complained Marui. "The Coke's leaking now. What was that for?"

The trickster sat in the other chair, putting down his own tray with considerably more care. "Well, you looked like you were daydreaming, so I thought I ought to wake you up to tell you the food's here. Were you dreaming about me?"

"Who would!" scoffed the redhead. There was no need to stroke his boyfriend's ego, after all. "I was thinking of what ice cream I'll order later. I decided on Oreo McFlurry."

Niou shook his head disbelievingly. "All you think about it food, huh? I'm so sad. I lost out to an Oreo McFlurry."

Marui kicked him under the table. "Don't act so pathetic. It's really, really gay," he said, wondering how many times in that week he'd had to repeat that particular line.

"Oh, so now we're playing footsie? And in such a crowded public place, too. I've underestimated you," remarked his boyfriend, unwrapping his own double cheeseburger. "Are we going to hold hands across the table too?"

The redhead facepalmed. "Oh God. Did someone knock your head once too often while you were in that crowd? I'm fairly sure you weren't such an idiot before." An idea hit him, and he grinned. "Or is this your idea of flirting? If so, it's a very bad method, so please stop."

Niou blinked. "I was teasing. You're very amusing to tease, in case nobody's told you before. Why should I need to flirt with you? I already know you like me."

"Oddly enough, I don't feel very happy about those comments," muttered Marui. He bit into his burger. Around the meaty mass, he added, "But just so you know, teasing is a form of flirting. Though definitely not in the way you do it."

"Thanks for the information, Mr Dating Guru," said the trickster, starting on a fistful of fries. "I'll keep it in mind. Shall I continue teasing you, even if it's not considered flirting? It's fun."

"It's not fun for me," the redhead informed his boyfriend. _Though I have to admit it _is_ rather amusing. _"It's plain embarrassing, Niou."

"Precisely why I do it. I like seeing you embarrassed," Niou explained nonchalantly.

"Sadist," accused Marui.

"And you're a masochist," was the smooth rejoinder. "See, we match so perfectly."

"I'm not masochistic!" Marui protested, nearly forgetting to keep his voice down. He was grateful that their neighbors were so deeply absorbed in each other. "I don't enjoy pain; no normal human being does!"

The grin on Niou's face was somehow predatory and somehow very, very hot. "Oh, we'll see about that." As if changing the subject, he asked, "Say, if you were to make a bouquet of ten roses and can choose any roses from ten red to ten white, what kind of bouquet would you make?"

"Random much?" The redhead restrained himself from rolling his eyes and instead considered the question. "I'd like ten white roses, I think."

"There! You are a super-major-masochist-among-masochist masochist!" declared Niou triumphantly. "Whoa, _ten_ whites. I never knew anyone would pick ten whites. I remember someone choosing eight whites, but never ten. Once again, I've underestimated you."

"Huh? What the hell do roses have to do with BDSM?" demanded Marui, thoroughly confused.

"It's a classic test," answered his boyfriend. "Red roses for sadists, white for masochists. The more reds or whites you choose, the greater your inclination. So, having chosen ten whites, you are the masochist of masochists."

"I… I just thought red roses in a bouquet were so girly," defended the redhead weakly. "I mean, roses in the first place are girly, but red roses are even more girly."

"That coming from the guy who dyed his hair pink," commented Niou, chewing thoughtfully on his burger.

"Red!" objected Marui. "When will you stop calling it pink?"

"When you stop eating sweets." Grinning as Marui swore, Niou added, "In case you wanted to know, I wanted ten red roses."

"Doesn't that make you, like, super-sadistic? Damn, I should've known. What am I getting myself into?" groaned the redhead.

"No, it just means we'll get along swimmingly," his boyfriend corrected. "Ten red to ten white – we're so perfectly matched!

Had their table any forehead-sized spot clear of fries, ketchup, burger, napkins or the various condiments, Marui would have indulged himself in a hearty headdesk. Unfortunately, there wasn't, so he had to content himself with rolling his eyes.

Niou helped himself to more ketchup. "I did say teasing you was fun."

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Night__: Niou_

"So…" Marui practically squirmed. "How does this work?"

"I have no idea. Didn't I say this was my first time too?" Niou reminded him. "I guess we'll just muddle along. As long as it feels good, it shouldn't be wrong."

"Porn movies make it look so easy," grumbled Marui. "Date, kiss, grind a bit, and then they're in a back alley fucking."

"I like my room better than a back alley," objected the trickster. "At least we did the first item on the list."

"Well, I like your room better than a back alley too," the redhead conceded. "But this isn't helping, much."

"It's pressuring," mused Niou. "Like a tennis match. Well, okay, maybe worse."

Marui grimaced. "Don't rationalize it!"

In all honesty, Niou was having second thoughts, despite knowing that it was probably too late. _What happened this morning was an – an accident_, he found himself thinking feverishly. _We – I – just went with the flow._ _But if we continue now – if we _really_ have sex – that can't be an accident anymore. I know I was teasing him, but it was just _teasing_. It's easy to crack crude sex jokes; any self-respecting teenage guy can. It's almost… a habit. But when it's not a joke, when it's _real…_ I thought I could do this, but – but – when we get right down to it – I don't know if I can. I wanted the sex, that much I know. Any normal teenage guy is horny. But somehow, this… it's too much like a commitment. _He refused to consider exactly _why_ it was different._ I… is it even okay for someone as unable to commit – as afraid to commit – as me to do something like this?_

"We don't _have_ to do… this," he mumbled, the words falling clumsily from his babbling mouth. "I mean, it's okay if we don't. I don't want to, to push you, like, this wasn't originally supposed to be a sexual relationship, right? Just… going out with each other, it's… enough…" The words trailed off, sounding weak and afraid even to his own ears. He cringed inwardly, hating himself for being _scared_.

Next to him, also seated on the edge of the bed and close enough that their shoulders brushed with every movement, he felt his boyfriend tense. "Niou… you don't want to fuck me?" Marui's voice was soft as he asked that damning question.

"It's not that," denied the trickster, knowing very well that it _was_ exactly that.

Marui laughed sharply. "Really. Hey, Niou. You know something?" Glancing over, Niou saw violet eyes blazing up into his own. "I really, really want you to fuck me. And after all you did this morning, all the teasing today, I'm not going to let you off just like that. You're pathetic, you know that? Acting so confident the whole day, and then can't get it up when you need to. Did you think you had a choice?"

Strong hands gripped his shirt collar, dragging him into a harsh, bruising kiss. Marui ran his tongue over Niou's lower lip, then nipped. Niou winced as the thin skin on his lips tore, but nevertheless allowed his boyfriend to slide his tongue into his mouth. Their tongues tangled in a short but heated battle even as Marui shifted to straddle the trickster, their bodies flush together and legs intertwined.

The kiss seemed to have broken an invisible barrier. Their hands were freely wandering over each other's bodies, just as they had that morning. In the dim light of the street lamps outside (they had neglected to turn on the room lights), Niou could see that Marui's pupils had dilated significantly. _So _that'_s what they call the 'look of lust and desire'_, a distant part of his mind noted.

By this time, Niou was flat on his back on the bed, his knees bent and only his toes still brushing the floor, while Marui was crouched on all fours over him. His previous misgivings seemed like a bad dream, quickly drowned out by the rush of desire that made his nerves tingle and his blood roar.

Marui tugged gently at his rattail, that angry, almost predatory look on his face replaced with one of pure lust. "Please?"

How could he refuse at this point? He nodded, and was rewarded with an elated grin. Marui's fingers fumbled with the knot for long moments, which Niou took advantage of slide a hand under Marui's shirt to toy with the redhead's nipples. By the time the purple ties finally unraveled, his ministrations had resulted in erect, very sensitive nubs that elicited a stifled noise from his boyfriend when pinched. "Now you look more girly than me," commented Marui as he ran fascinated fingers through the long silver strands, having recovered from the stimulus much too fast for Niou's liking.

"Yeah? You're still gonna get fucked by me," retorted Niou, rolling his hips against the redhead's on sudden inspiration. Both of them had to suppress a moan as their erections brushed against each other, the cloth of their trousers only increasing the friction.

Breathless, Marui managed to say, "Now we've done both step two and three, I suppose the next step is to start fucking."

"It _is_ the logical progression," Niou replied. Grasping his boyfriend by the shoulders, he heaved, rolling them both over so that now Marui lay on the bed and Niou leaned over him. The trickster shoved his boyfriend's shirt upwards, baring that tanned, muscular yet flexible torso he had seen so often in the years of their acquaintance. Of course, he'd never found it attractive before.

Now, though, he did. Now, it wasn't the same body that all the Rikkai regulars had. It was _Marui's_ body. And that was a world of difference. A low growl shivered from his vocal cords as he dipped his head, first licking, then sucking the nipples he had given his attention to earlier.

Marui coughed, surprised by this new action. "Wait, what – hey, I'm a guy, remember, you're not gonna get any milk from me, you idiot – ah!" His protests were cut off by a sharp breath as he writhed, the pleasure Niou had aimed for finally kicking in. "You – ah – Niou, stop –"

Obeying, the trickster swiftly transferred his mouth to his boyfriend's lips instead, effectively muffling any further objections. For a moment, the redhead relaxed, his attention diverted. That lasted until Niou pressed their hips together again.

"Mmh –" Marui struggled, trying and failing to disconnect their mouths, while simultaneously clamping his knees painfully tight around Niou's body The two of them thrashed around on the bed like fish out of water, fighting to get loose, fighting to hold on, who was doing what, they themselves were not altogether clear. When they had finally disentangled themselves, they were both very much messier than they had started out, and the sheets looked like a tornado had passed through.

Niou shook his hair out of his face, impatient at and unused to having the longer strands loose. He could feel his chest heaving slightly and his heart thrumming much faster than usual in his ears; his erection strained in the confines of his clothes. A quick glance revealed his boyfriend to be in a similar state – tousled hair, eyes half-lidded, saliva from either of them forming a trail on his chin as he breathed open-mouthed. With barely a pause for the doubts that had made him so reluctant earlier, Niou took the plunge.

Reaching out, he tugged at the elasticized waistband of the redhead's slacks. Marui instantly jerked up into a sitting position, so quickly it was almost comical. Oddly enough, Niou didn't particularly feel like laughing. He was too busy coping with the overwhelming urge to fuck this entertaining, intriguing, _fascinating_ person senseless.

Marui's hands touched his, and he looked up. For an instant their eyes met. Time stretched as their gazes burned into each other, violet and green alight with equal measures of desire. "…Please?" voiced Niou at last.

The redhead grinned. "A bit late, isn't it?" His hands shifted, going to the waistband of Niou's pants, touching and teasing the flesh just beneath. Niou stifled a moan, all about ripping his boyfriend's pants off as fresh waves of arousal crashed over him. Next went their shirts, while their underwear followed in short order.

His boyfriend almost immediately leaned in, pushing him until his back was against the wall. Niou was about to remark on this renewed aggressiveness when the redhead planted his knees firmly on either side of his hips and grabbed his hands in an iron grip. The uncomfortable feeling of being trapped spread tendrils through his passion-laden mind. "… Marui, what –" he began to say, but his words were cut off by a deep, melting kiss.

"Shut up," ordered Marui softly. "This is… payback for this morning, okay? Just let me… touch you…"

Niou certainly wasn't about to say no, not when they'd come so far already. Despite his gay-porn-honed instincts screaming at him that giving up control would result in him getting it up the ass, he couldn't refuse. There was no denying that Marui's alternating between shyness and boldness was an extreme turn-on.

Taking a deep breath, the trickster forced himself to relax into his boyfriend's hold. _I wanted to live a dream – well, _live_ it!_

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

_Night__: Marui_

He had honestly been expecting Niou to put up more of a struggle, but it seemed that the trickster wasn't as averse to not being in control as he'd thought. Niou considered for barely five seconds before he sighed and relaxed under him. "This had better be good," he warned the redhead.

Marui grinned, triumphant. "Oh, I plan it to be." That being said, he was definitely new to the actual physical mechanisms of gay sex. On the other hand, he was fairly confident he could get his boyfriend to come just by touch. Niou had done it to him that morning, after all, and being a guy himself, he knew a male body much better than a female one.

Taking the hands he still had trapped, he raised them up over Niou's head and pressed their bodies together. A part of his mind complained that all this exposed flesh was so _crude_, all sweaty, hot and disgusting, but it was only a small part and quickly silenced by louder demands for pleasure.

With his free hand, he palmed his boyfriend's member. It was hot and heavy in his hands, both familiar and yet not. Experimentally, he squeezed his hand around it, and was rewarded by a sharp intake of breath by the trickster. "Maru–"

"I said shut up, right?" He repeated the action, more confidently this time, and then began to systematically locate Niou's most sensitive spots. It wasn't long before the trickster was hanging from his grip, hair damp with sweat, his bones apparently turned to liquid, his eyes glazed as he panted.

Marui drank in the sight of this disheveled Niou, feeling his member pulse as though in appreciation, and leaned in again to connect their lips. Next, he shifted his mouth to Niou's jaw, neck, then collarbones, his hand working at the trickster's manhood throughout. From the increasingly harsh breaths, the stifled noises falling involuntarily from his lips, Niou had to be close. Was there something he had missed in order to get him to come…?

An idea struck him. The redhead fisted his boyfriend's erection as roughly as he knew how, grinding their hips together, and pressed their bodies as close as they could get. At the same time, he breathed into the trickster's ear, "You are so fucking _hot_, Haru…"

Niou's eyes widened – Marui felt the lids move against his skin – and his body gave in to a wrenching convulsion. "_Ah_ –" The wordless shout echoed in the small room. Warm fluid splattered over Marui's chest and legs, and he sighed in relief. He hadn't been sure his idea would work.

There was a pause. Marui watched as Niou recovered, his breaths slowing while his composure returned. At last the trickster looked up and met Marui's eyes. "And so why am I now '_Haru_'?" he inquired, a shadow of a grin flickering across his face.

"Because it sounds nicer than Niou," answered the redhead at once. It _was_ true.

A frown. "Then what about trapping my hands? We could have gotten each other off."

"You got me off this morning already, with a hand job. I wanted to see if I could do the same to you," explained Marui. "And I could! I _knew_ I could."

Niou snorted. "Of course. Anyway, I guess it's a good thing in the end. Now we have lube."

"Oooh, lucky." Marui grinned. "Now what? We still haven't fucked."

"You realized," was the mildly sarcastic reply. "We're going to rectify that in a little while. Get onto your hands and knees – no, your elbows and knees."

"Huh? Why?" demanded the redhead. "It doesn't sound comfortable."

"It isn't supposed to be comfortable; it's supposed to be erotic," Niou informed him with exaggerated patience. "Elbows and knees, _if_ you don't mind. You got to do what you wanted to me just now – it's my turn now."

"Yessir," muttered Marui, clambering into the awkward position. His bare rear end, raised and exposed, made him feel extremely vulnerable. For some reason this only increased the molten heat in his abdomen.

The trickster shoved a pillow under the redhead's raised torso. "Good boy."

"I'm not a dog," he complained.

"Well, we're going to do this doggy-style, so get used to dogginess." His boyfriend shifted so that his knees were between Marui's, his hips against the redhead's buttocks. Marui dropped his head into the pillow, grateful that in this position Niou couldn't see his burning face. It was so _weird… _and how the hell had Niou managed to get hard again so fast? _The shit… and I thought _I _was the only horny one here…_

"Hey. Are you okay? If you stuff your face in that pillow for so long you're gonna suffocate," Niou told him, interrupting his thoughts.

"… Nope, I'm fine." The redhead pushed himself back up so that his weight was on his elbows rather than his head.

"Good. Now, lick." Fingers – a hand – touched the corner of his mouth. "The wetter the better, and it's not for my sake but for yours. I don't think you'd want something dry up your ass."

"I don't want _anything_ up my ass," muttered Marui. Now that he was off the pillow, their bodies were once more flush together. Niou's skin against his back was unsettlingly erotic; he could feel his face heating up. He knew – he had guessed – what gay sex was, but feeling someone's arousal pressing between his butt-cheeks was uncomfortably _real._

"Hmm? Did I hear that right? You don't want anything up your ass?" Niou's breath ghosted over his ear; Marui screwed up his eyes shut as shivers of arousal rippled through his body. The room was _much_ too hot. Sweat dripped from his extremities as though he had just finished a grueling tennis match. "Too bad, princess. _You_ were the one who said you wanted me to fuck you."

The redhead couldn't deny that. "I… didn't really mean it," he admitted. "About having something up my ass. It's just… really… embarrassing. Being in this… position."

A puff of air brushed his neck – a stifled laugh. "Trust me, the view is _very_ nice. Lick… please? I want to screw you so bad that I'm going to go in dry if you don't –"

Rather than reply, Marui opened his mouth and swallowed the fingers as deep as they would go. He slid his tongue around the long digits, tasting each callus and knuckle. _His right hand…_ Breath slid hotly over his shoulder and neck. Against his back, Niou's chest heaved. The shaft pressing into his behind was harder, hotter, rougher… A hand suddenly enclosed his member, stroking firmly. His body moved, reflexively, arching to press into that hand and against that erection rubbing teasingly at his entrance. A moan poured from his parted lips; he could feel saliva dripping onto his chin, onto the pillow below. Inside, he was cringing – he knew very well how lewd these combined actions were, but they just _happened_, uncontrollably.

The fingers drew out of his mouth, liberally coated with saliva. They vanished, and moments later he felt something wet probe his entrance. "I'm going to put one in," said Niou huskily. "Try to relax."

_As if I could relax when someone's trying to stick a finger up my ass_, Marui wanted to say, but completely forgot about it when said finger slid through the first ring of muscle. He cringed, both physically as well as mentally – _it feels godfuckingbloody weird!_ "Relax," repeated his boyfriend, but he barely heard it over his own noisy breathing. The redhead once again buried his face in the pillow, forcing himself to breathe deeply, to accustom himself to the strange intrusion. _I should've known that gays were called queer for a reason… they enjoy such _strange_ things…_

"Another one," whispered Niou. Marui sank his teeth into the pillow as a second digit wriggled in to join its companion. "I'm going to try to open you up more…" The fingers moved, scissoring inside him. "Oh, yeah. Nearly forgot." The hand that had been helping to press his buttocks apart moved to his shaft, pumping him again. "Does that help?"

Marui didn't answer; he couldn't. The fingers inside him had made contact with something that made white lights explode in his mind and his muscles turn to water. Niou's deciding to fist him coincidentally occurred at exactly the same time. That hot pressure below his stomach exploded under the sensory overload, the muscles of his body spasming as he came. His vocal cords vibrated in a scream, but the pillow muffled the sound. He wasn't sure if he was grateful for it.

It was several seconds before he managed to piece himself back together. "… sorry." He wanted to kick himself; why was he always coming prematurely like this? That morning, and again now –

'It's okay. I guess I just hit your sweet spot, that's why you came," said Niou reassuringly. "And of course this just means the lube is fresher."

The redhead chanced a glance at his boyfriend. The trickster was indeed slathering Marui's seed onto his own shaft. Color surged in Marui's face, and he quickly looked away again, but the damage was done – he could feel his so recently spent arousal returning. It was so disgusting, so how could it be so _erotic_? "I, um, should you be doing that… now? I mean, you only got two in, and anyone's bigger than –"

"I got the third in just after you came," Niou informed him. "You tightened – I could feel my bones grinding together – then straight after, you relaxed so much I managed to put in the third. You can't tell?"

Marui shifted hesitantly. It did feel a little different; a bit bigger, but somehow less uncomfortable. "Not really. I guess… coming helped me to… relax…"

"Yeah." The three fingers were suddenly withdrawn, to be replaced with a larger, blunt pressure at his entrance. "Can I… go in?"

He could hear the heat, the blistering desire in Niou's voice. It made him shiver agreeably, in spite of the natural fear of having something larger than those three fingers inside him. "… Okay."

Niou's hands gripped his hips, holding him up as he pushed in slowly. Marui thanked heaven and earth again and again for the pillow. The sounds coming from his mouth were much too embarrassing. After what seemed to be an immensely long, agonizing time, Niou was buried to the hilt inside the redhead.

It hurt. _ it hurts!_ Marui screamed silently. He couldn't complain that it hurt, not when he had been the one who had wanted it first. His muscles trembled; it took all of his determination to support his own weight. There was liquid trailing down his face, salty liquid he was fairly sure was not sweat.

They remained like that for a long moment as Niou waited for Marui to relax. At last, the trickster asked, "Is it okay… if I move?"

"Yeah…" Marui wasn't sure if his answer was audible amid his harsh breaths, but it seemed as though his boyfriend had heard him. The big intrusion slid out, then back in – once, twice, thrice…

"_Ha–_" A shout escaped him as _that spot_ inside him was stimulated. "Niou, that –" His boyfriend slammed back in, harder and faster than before, hitting it again and eliciting yet another scream. "_Ah_! Yes, that – hit that –" The pain was gone, or perhaps not gone but only overshadowed by the extreme pleasure, so that each time their bodies came together both pain and pleasure engulfed his body. Rational thought had deserted him – all he could think about was getting more of that _amazing_ feeling. He knew he was making some kind of sounds, incoherent noises of ecstasy, but he no longer cared. His legs dissolved at each assault, unable to support him; only Niou's arm around his waist held him up.

Niou drove into him once more, and this time Marui pushed his hips back, trying to take in even more of his boyfriend despite knowing it was physically impossible. _Again_ – _again –_ Their rhythm was becoming increasingly irregular as both of them neared their climax.

The closer-than-close contact, the pleasure, the pain, the crude but so very sexual sound of skin sliding and slapping on skin was too much. All the nerves in his body seemed to be on fire. The excruciating, exhilarating, amazing pressure deep inside finally released, and he found himself screaming wordlessly as his seed splattered over the sheets for the second time. Inside his body, he felt liquid hit the walls of his passage as Niou's muscles tensed, tightening his grip around the redhead, his shout reverberating through both their bodies.

Exhaustion hit him like a steam engine even as he recovered from his second climax. He barely registered Niou's pulling out of him, and their collapsing spent onto the bed, before sleep claimed him.

As Marui fell down the dark well of unconsciousness, he fancied that it had been his name Niou had been screaming when he came.

_**~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~HaruMaru~**_

**A/N: It's been what, two months since the last chapter? I have a lot of things to say, so I'll try to be organized about it. O.o**

**First and most importantly, yesi'mreallyfrickingdamnlatei'msosorrysosorrysosorryican'tapologizeenough I'M SO SORRY FOR THE VERY VERY LATE UPDATE –kowtows–. I hate it when a fic I'm following stops updating for ages like it's gonna be discontinued, so yes, feel free to throw all the rotten eggs and tomatoes you want at me. I deserve them. For anyone who's actually interested, the reasons for the extreme delay, in order of importance, would be as the follows: Starting work, discovering the total awesomeness of doujinshi and hence addiction to said doujinshi, and my fail-ness as a smut writer. Which leads me to the second point…**

**I have made a discovery. –cue drumroll– I have come to the profound realization that GOOD SMUT IS AWESOME TO READ BUT TERRIBLE TO WRITE. I'm not trying to say that the smut I've written here is good – on the contrary I found it **_**painful**_** both to write and to read – but seriously, I could write five pages of gag/plot buildup/fluff (maybe) with the time and effort **_**one**_** page of smut takes out of me. It really reduces my confidence as a writer, to write and rewrite and never like what comes out. This chappie beats Thursday for the title of longest chapter of this fic, so far, and more than half of it was smut. That's a **_**lot**_** of smut, a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Okay, I exaggerate. No blood, but plenty of sweat and tears. If it wasn't for Feyren's PM demanding to know if I was dead I may never have had the guts to finish this chapter and upload it. (By the way Feyren, I had only written until the end of the karaoke section when you PMd me. In my defense, this chapter is at least four times as long as yours for Talent Tournament, but probably a lot less enjoyable T.T). As it is, I had to burn the midnight oil for the past three nights in order to get this done by the last day of February O.o I know I planned the story to be like this, but sketching the general idea – confession on Monday, go to Niou's house on Thursday, blowjob on Friday, date and sex on Saturday – and actually writing it is vastly different in terms of difficulty, at least for me. Maybe that's why I tend to lose steam on my longer stories, especially those that revolve around romance (which excludes Tears of the Sun immediately).**

**Now, third on the agenda – I think I made Niou and Marui's characters too complicated for my own good. On rereading this chapter, I found myself thinking, 'Were they always so bipolar?' Was I right to give Niou an outward typical horny teenager side and a hidden scared-of-relationships side? Doesn't Marui getting embarrassed at crude sex puns make him too girly and totally kill the 'fiery' image I was trying to create? It seems as though I'm trying to do too many things at the same time, and the results are… well. –sigh– Of course, this could just be me overanalyzing my own work. I just got a review for my first OC fic, and though the reviewer was very complimentary, she very clearly stated her disapproval of my habit of "(berating) your own writing at the end of each chapter". It really does seem to be a bad habit of mine. I never like my own writing, at least not immediately after completion. Only when I reread stuff I wrote a long time ago do I ever think 'whoa that was a good line'. So, well, take my self-slamming with a pinch of salt. DX I'm not exactly happy with this chapter, but you're more than welcome to try to convince me otherwise =)**

**Number four! The smut everyone was looking forward to/expecting/demanding is finally here. There will be more to come in the next chapter, which means you can expect it to take a long time to update as well. As I said earlier, smut is in no way easy to write under the best of circumstances, and being in a work attachment is definitely not helping. I plug in the earphones to shut out the distractions, and then get worried because I can't hear if someone's approaching. My seat's on the main aisle, so passersby are many and everyone seems to feel the need to glance curiously at the computer screens on their way past. IT'S GODDAMN NERVE-WRACKING!... sorry, didn't mean to complain about it, but… it's kinda part of the explanation. I'm trying my best to do the smut scenes at home, but I still took two months to finish this. T.T**

**Fifth, and still there's more to go. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE TO FIND ****GOOD HARUMARU DOUJINSHI****? I haven't been able to locate any online, so I ended up reading Durarara! , Gintama, Oofuri and PoT (mostly Perfect Pair, it seems they're the most popular among doujin artists) doujins to try to get inspiration/mood. Unfortunately, this has the effect of getting me to read more and more doujin and forgetting about writing the fic. So if I had some good HaruMaru doujin as source material, it'd be a godsend. Anybody? At this point, I'm willing to accept even untranslated doujins O.o I'll just battle through with my just-about-pass-N2 level Japanese. HARUMARU DOUJINS, PEOPLE.**

**Sixth and last! I couldn't let this opportunity for an advertisement go XD ALL YE PRINCE OF TENNIS FANS, ORE-SAMA ORDERS YOU TO WATCH ****OOFURI****. It's not tennis (it's baseball) but damn it makes PoT look straight. Ookiku Furikabutte, Oofuri for short and Big Windup in English, is basically about a baseball team that's aiming for (what else?) the title of national champion. It's a show good enough to tug at your heartstrings – I couldn't stop myself from cheering and fistpumping when the team scored/won and felt honestly depressed when they lose – and, as I said, it's super, super gay. They hold hands to encourage each other to focus, and one main character actually said "I'll make you feel so good you'll choose me over them" to the other main character. HOW FREAKIN' GAY IS THAT. Apart from the gayness – all in the name of friendship and team bonding, of course – there's a fair dose of humor (one of the guys announced "Oh my god I forgot to masturbate today!" in front of the team's female coach and manager) in there. My only problem with the series is that I CANNOT STAND the main character Mihashi. He's such a wimp! –shakes fist– I had to restrain myself from punching the screen at several points, especially during the first few episodes. After that I learned to ignore him. The other characters are awesome enough to make up for the extreme negative in Mihashi – Abe's got Nakamura Yuichi as seiyuu and gets exasperated with Mihashi exactly when I do (it's immensely gratifying to see that wimp getting noogied, even if I'm not the one who's doing the noogie-ing), Tajima is plain awesome as a batter or as a source of humor, and Izumi, Junta and Haruna all trigger my fangirl switch like there's no tomorrow (that Izumi and Junta have great seiyuus might be a factor). With all that said, those who have not already watched/read Oofuri, hurry up and start on it! You don't know what you're missing out on! XD**

**Review, review, review!**** After so long without hearing from y'all and suffering alone with this chapter, I'm dying to hear your comments on it :D Reviews will make me pull those all-nighters to get the next chapter done in a month instead of two months! ^^**

**[Edit: I uploaded this at 1a.m. and completely forgot about the links I'd added for the songs. So here they are =D**

**Iroha Song, ClearXDasoku**

**-**(Youtube) .com/watch?v=JdVsGKmRwts&playnext=1&list=PL8E4AF8942AA543F4

**Tegomass Aiaigasa and other PVs (they're seriously cute!) -**

http:/kurima（.）multiply（.）com/video/item/187/Tegomass_-_Ai_Ai_Gasa_Pv  
http:/www（.）jpopasia（.）com/group/tegomass/videos/aoi-bench-blue-bench（::）

**Also, I realized (rather belatedly) in the middle of writing this chapter that Marui's seiyuu, Takahashi Naozumi, is actually a fairly popular singer. One of my favorites by him is this one – (Youtube) .com/watch?v=hu6NxqSIYc0&feature=related**

**Hope you enjoy!]**


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